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PEER REVIEWED & REFEREED JOURNAL, FEB-MAR, 2022, VOL-10/50

PERSONALITY TRAITS OF JUVENILE DELINQUENTS

Ms. M. Sumithra1 & S. Komalavalli2, Ph. D.

1
Ph.D. Research Scholar, Lady Willingdon Institute of Advanced Studies in Education
2
Assistant Professor of Tamil Education, Lady Willingdon Institute of Advanced Studies in
Education, Chennai 600 005.

Paper Received On: 25 MAR 2022

Peer Reviewed On: 31 MAR 2022
Published On: 1 APR 2022

Abstract

The relationship between juvenile delinquency and personality has been observed by many
researchers. The main objective of this paper is to assess the personality traits among juvenile
delinquents. Sample of the study comprises of 153 juvenile delinquents staying in a juvenile home at
Chennai. Normative survey method was employed for data collection. The Big Five Personality
Inventory by John, Benet-Martinez and Benet-Martinez (1998) was used for data collection. ‘t’ test is
used to analyse the collected data. Results revealed that there is no significant difference found based
on gender in the dimensions of personality and in overall personality. Personality traits have to be
improved so as to reduce the crimes performed by adolescents and their basic needs have to be
fulfilled in order to bring a change in their lives.

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Introduction
Research over the past few decades on normal child development and on development
of delinquent behavior has shown that individual, social, and community conditions as well
as their interactions influence behavior. There is general agreement that behavior, including
antisocial and delinquent behavior, is the result of a complex interplay of individual
biological and genetic factors and environmental factors, starting during fetal development
and continuing throughout life (Bock and Goode, 1996). Clearly, genes affect biological
development, but there is no biological development without environmental input. Thus, both
biology and environment influence behavior of juvenile delinquents.
Some studies focus on behavior that meets diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder or
other antisocial behavior disorders; others look at aggressive behavior, or lying, or
shoplifting; still others rely on juvenile court referral or arrest as the outcome of interest.

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Furthermore, different risk factors and different outcomes may be more salient at some stages
of child and adolescent development than at others.
Review of Related Literature
Waghmare and Shinde (2021) analyzed the review of literature on personality of
juvenile delinquents. He concluded that in a study of juveniles from the Pittsburgh Youth
Study, John et al. (1994) discovered that delinquent boys were more likely to have low scores
on conscientiousness. Low conscientiousness scores were also shown to be significantly
related to vandalism/theft for males and females (Heaven, 1996) and the number of times an
individual is arrested (Clower & Bothwell, 2001). According to Laak et al. (2003),
incarcerated girls with lower conscientiousness scores were more likely to cause harm, battle,
or steal. With their research, Hornsveld and de Kruyk (2005) confirmed these results by
revealing that aggressive outpatients had lower conscientiousness scores than the control
group.
Low conscientiousness in children is linked to externalizing activities (Prinzie et al.,
2003), and longitudinal studies have linked childhood impulsivity to increased antisocial
behaviours later in childhood and adolescence. (e.g., Lynam et al., 2000; Moffitt & Caspi,
2001). Using the Self-Report Delinquency scale (Elliot, Huizinga, & Ageton, 1985) and the
Self-Reported Antisocial Behavior Scale (Loeber, Stouthamer-Loeber, Van Kammen, &
Farrington, 1989), delinquents scored significantly lower on conscientiousness than non-
delinquents in a high-risk study of boys (12 to 13 years of age) (John et al., 1994).
According to John and Srivastava (1999), The Big Five personality model was
developed as an etymological method to capture how people describe themselves others and
it has since been found in adults from 50 different cultures (Livesley, 2001). Low
agreeableness, low conscientiousness, and high neuroticism were found to be closely
correlated with violence by Lynam et al. (2005). Furthermore, adolescent psychopathy is
characterised by low agreeableness, low conscientiousness, and high neuroticism, which has
been shown to be a Good predictor of violence and antisocial conduct (Lynam et al., 2005).
Neuroticism in toddlers predicted higher anxiety and psychosomatic issues in puberty, as well
as greater mother records of proximity seeking towards mothers at 5 years of age (Abe,
2005). Neuroticism has also been linked to delinquency (Laak et al., 2003) and diagnosis of
behavior disorder and drug use disorders in adolescents. (Anderson et al., 2007).

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Need for the Study

Larsen and Buss (2002) defined personality as “the set of psychological traits and
mechanisms within the individual that are organized and relatively enduring and that
influence his or her interactions with, and adaptations to, the environment (p. 4).” Traits are
usually classified in one of two forms. The criminals behaviour is affected by a variety of
personal characteristics. Personality characteristics have been identified as significant
determinants of criminal and delinquent behaviour in children over the last three decades.
Single personality traits or a group of personality traits may influence criminal behaviour.
There is a connection between personality and delinquency and criminal behaviour. Eysenck
was the first to investigate the utility of personality characteristics in understanding criminal
behaviour (1947). Many researchers already agree that there are five basic personality
characteristics. Because of the increase in juvenile crimes, the investigator has made an
attempt to study the personality traits of juvenile delinquents so as to produce a better society
tomorrow.
Conceptual Framework of the Study
In this research study personality traits have been described under the umbrella of
“Five-Personality- Factor Model”. Though, Big Five have been defined from different
dimensions (Goldberg, 1993). The Big Five characterized by openness to experience,
conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism (McCrae & Costa, 1989;
Goldberg, 1993).
According to John & Srivastava (1999), Openness to experience trait is characterized
as intellectually curious, imaginative, hold unconventional beliefs. People with high score on
this trait are likely to be more adventurous, creative and have the ability to think outside the
box. People with low score on this trait are likely to be more conventional and may struggle
with abstract thinking. Conscientiousness is a personality trait that can be characterized as
thoughtfulness, tendency to control impulse, behave in socially acceptable ways and facilitate
goal directed behavior.

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Big Five Personality Traits

Extraversion is a trait that can be described as friendly, sociable, assertive, talkative,

emotionally expressive and cheerful. Individuals high on this trait have a tendency to gain
energy in social settings and are usually outgoing. Agreeableness dimension of personality
consists of characteristics such as trustworthy, helpful, altruism, kind, considerate, generous
and don’t hesitate to sacrifice their interest (John & Srivastava, 1999). Neuroticism
dimension of personality refers to those who have tendency to experience anger, sadness,
emotional instability and variety of negative emotions are frequently observed in people who
scored high on neuroticism.
Therefore, personality trait theory is considered as an imperative source of
understanding of individual characteristics of juvenile delinquents. This study would also
helps to explore which prominent traits are predominant among juvenile delinquents. This
research study would also provide the abundant knowledge for society to gather the main
reasons for the children to become juvenile delinquents. Hence, the current study will be
viable for reducing the number of juveniles and to show them a better way of life to live a
harmonious life in the society.
Statement of the Problem
The problem of the study can be stated as “Personality Traits of Juvenile
Delinquents.”

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Operational Definition of variables

Personality Traits
Personality is defined as “an individual’s characteristic style of behaving, thinking,
and feeling” (Schacter, Gilbert, & Wegner, 2009). Traits are the quality that forms part of
your character or personality.
For the present study, investigator has adopted the definition of John, Benet-
Martinez and Benet-Martinez (1998) that refers to the personality traits of an individual i.e.
extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness of juvenile
delinquents.
Juvenile Delinquents
The term “juvenile delinquent” refers any person below the age of 18 who has come
in contact with the justice system as a result of committing a crime or being suspected of
committing a crime.
Hypotheses of the Study
The following hypotheses were formulated to guide this study.
1. There is no significant difference between boys and girls in the dimensions of
personality namely, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism
and openness of juvenile delinquents.
2. There is no significant difference between boys and girls in the overall personality
of juvenile delinquents.
Methodology
Normative survey method is used for the study. The subjects for the study were 153
juvenile delinquents drawn from juvenile homes in Chennai District. Random sampling
method was used for data collection.
Instrumentation
The Big Five inventory by John, Benet-Martinez and Benet Martinez (1998), was
used to assess the personality of juvenile delinquents consists of 44 items which are
combined into five dimensions namely, extraversion, pleasantness, conscientiousness,
neuroticism and openness.
The subjects were encouraged to respond spontaneously to each of the forty four
items on a five point scale ranging from strongly disagree, disagree, neither agree nor
disagree, agree and strongly agree. For a positive statement, the scores assigned were 1, 2, 3,
4 and 5, and for negative statements, the scores assigned were 5,4,3,2 and 1 for response of

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strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree and strongly disagree respectively.
The reliability of Big Five Inventory Scale is calculated using Cronbach’s Alpha Co-efficient
method. The reliability and the validity of the attitude scale is 0.768 and 0.862 respectively
which shows that the scale is highly reliable.
Data Analysis and Interpretation
Data collected from the respondents were subjected to appropriate statistical analysis
to draw up inferences from it. ‘t’ test was used for data analyses.
Hypothesis 1: There is no significant difference between boys and girls in the dimensions of
personality namely, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and
openness of juvenile delinquents.
Table 1: Significance of mean difference between boys and girls in the dimensions of
personality
Gender
Variables
Boys (N=101) Girls (N=52) t value P value
Mean SD Mean SD
Extraversion 28.02 3.922 27.46 4.604 0.785 0.433NS
Agreeableness
26.42 3.922 25.50 4.646 1.283 0.201NS
Conscientiousness 28.10 4.997 26.65 5.877 1.594 0.113NS
Neuroticism 26.40 6.800 24.92 7.276 1.239 0.217NS
Openness 36.35 6.173 35.04 6.068 1.249 0.214NS
Note: NS - Not Significant

It could be inferred from the table values that in the dimensions of personality
namely, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness, there
exists no significant difference between boys and girls which infers that both boys and girls
are similar in the dimensions of personality namely, extraversion, agreeableness,
conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness. This may be due to the fact that juvenile
delinquents do not know how to deal with the people in the society and subsequently their
openness is also less which ultimately leads them to indulge in criminal activities. Hence, the
formulated hypothesis that there will be no significant difference between boys and girls in
dimensions of personality namely, extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness,
neuroticism and openness of juvenile delinquents is accepted.

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Hypothesis 2: There is no significant difference between boys and girls in the overall
personality of juvenile delinquents.
Table 2: Significance of mean difference between boys and girls in personality
Gender
Variables
Boys (N=101) Girls (N=52) t value P value
Mean SD Mean SD
Overall Personality 145.20 17.527 139.42 20.531 1.819 0.071NS
NS – Not Significant
It could be inferred from the table value that there exists no significant difference
between boys and girls in overall personality. It is evident that both boys and girls are having
similar personality traits. This may be due to the fact that both boys and girls are at juvenile
homes and they don’t know how to balance their emotions equally due to some background
factors. Hence, the formulated hypothesis that there will be no significant difference between
boys and girls in overall personality of juvenile delinquents is accepted.
Conclusion
From the review of literature, there are more important predictors of delinquent
behavior among adolescents. Based on the findings, some of the reasons for delinquent
behavior were unpleasantness, unconscientiousness, no openness among the people in the
society. Juvenile delinquents are risky adolescents who are hard, cruel, suspicious, robust,
competitive, uncooperative, prone to extremes, dominating, unfriendly and rude. Many times
they are hesitant; they postpone their duties and subside to the impulses. They are considered
to be casual, lazy and have no self-confidence. They are able to predict the behavior of other
people and they know how their behavior will affect the well-being of others. They do not get
enough understanding and support from the society and indulge in crimes. If their personality
traits are improved, they may be able to mingle with the society and they could be able to
understand how their activities affect others in the society.
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