Married Criminologists Fix Causes of Child Delinquency

A man and wife team of Law School criminologists, after a ten year study, have succeeded in isolating factors which make boys delinquents before they reach the first grade.

Professor Sheldon Glueek and Eleanor T. Glueek have determined, after studying 500 bad boys and 600 from the same background who never get into trouble, that parental relationship are the most important factor in shaping a boy's future.

The condition of the family-where it lived or how much money it made--in not of much consequence in making boys delinquent. What really turned them the wrong way were fathers whose discipline was too strict or too lax, parents who did not pay much attention to the boy or how his leisure time was spent, the Glueeka said.

Correct Methods

If a boy's family had the right attitude and used the right methods--firm and kindly discipline, for instance--the chances were only three in 100 that he would become a delinquent.

A wilful, assertive, defiant, and suspicious attitude toward others was a mark of the delinquents. Another trait characteristic of law-breakers was an emotional explosion on the slightest provocation without regard to results. All these traits were uncovered by use of the Roracharch, or ink-blot, test.

In one hour interviews with the subjects the Glueeks determined that youngsters who sought excitement, did what they pleased, could be easily swayed by appeal to the emotions, and were in conflict with their surroundings, became delinquent in eight out of ten cases.

The Glueek's findings are contained in a book entitled "Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency."