The Psychology of Thai Delinquent Youth: A Study of Self-Perception, Ego Defenses, and Personality Traits

Abstract

Because little is known about the mental and emotional functioning of delinquent adolescents in Thailand, 400 incarcerated youths (300 boys and I 00 girls) and 400 nonadjudicated controls of equivalent age, gender, socioeconomic status, and religion completed newly normed measures of self-concept (Tennessee Self-Concept Scale), ego defense mechanisms (Life Style Index), and personality traits (Adjective Checklist). Among delinquents, gender contrasts revealed that girls, although less self-confident than their male peers, had better social skills and were more aware of their emotions. Relative to controls, the self-perceptions of delinquents were rigid and distinguished by feelings of impulsiveness and being misunder-stood by family members. Denial, repression, and regressive emotionality characterized the coping of the criminally involved youths, and personality test data revealed that the jailed adolescents had impaired introspective and interpersonal abilities. Implications ofthefindingsfor the prevention of delinquency and the treatment of adolescents with disorders of conduct are discussed.

Delinquency in incarcerated male adolescents is associated with single parenthood, exposure to more violence at home and in the community, and poorer self-image

“…The loss of such “safe harbor” seems especially threatening and can be related to the development of delinquency. Finally, we found a significant relationship between delinquency and poor self-concept, which is in agreement with other studies ( 8 , 39 ).…”

“…We found the following predictors of delinquency: single parenthood, high exposure to violence at home/community, and poorer self-concept, which is in agreement with other studies ( 1 , 8 , 38 , 39 ). It is interesting that, contrary to our hypotheses and previous findings ( 5 - 7 ), there was no correlation between delinquency and poor school achievement, trauma exposure in other contexts, and manifest psychopathology.…”

“…This study was conducted from January 2008 to June 2009 and included delinquent male adolescents aged 14-18 years. We made a preliminary calculation of study power with 80 participants ( 8 ) using the methodology of Offer et al ( 30 , 31 ) and obtained excellent results; for example, for the Physical Self-image scale, the resulting value was 0.94. Therefore, it was determined that the study needs to include a minimum of 80 participants.…”

“…Besides war-related violence, we expected that delinquency was related to the exposure to other types of violence, eg, violence at home ( 29 ). Finally, we also expected an association with poorer self-image ( 8 ) and the presence of significant psychopathological syndromes ( 7 ).…”

Multiculturalism and psychoanalytic psychology: The validation of a defense mechanisms measure in an Asian population.

“…On the basis of their feedback, several changes were made in the wording of items, and a final Thai version was prepared for printing. Over the next several years, the Thai edition of the LSI was administered to a norm group of 2,624 persons and used in a number of research projects (e.g., Emavardhana & Tori, 1997; Tori & Emavardhana, 1998).…”