The primary objective of the present study was to find the relationship of delinquency with learning disabilities, personality and family environment. Therefore the data was collected keeping in view the demand of the study. In subsequent pages, necessary information about sample, the tools used and the procedure employed for obtaining relevant information has been given. The present chapter is hence arranged in the following order. 3.1 Sample 3.2 Psychological Tests 3.3 Procedure 3.4 Statistical Analyses 3.1 SAMPLE In the present study, the sample consisted of 115 male delinquents of age ranging between 13 to 17 years, taken from Observation Home situated at Ludhiana in Punjab (India). To draw comparisons among delinquents and non-delinquents on selected variables, non-delinquent subjects were also studied. A total sample of 130 non-delinquents comprised of school students, dropouts and workers was taken. Efforts were made to maintain inter-group homogeneity on the variables of education, socioeconomic status, gender and age. Table 3.1 shows the frequency distributions means and standard deviations of the age of the subjects in both the groups. For the selection of the sample, following aspects were taken into consideration: a) Only literate delinquents and non-delinquents were taken into the sample who could read words printed in Hindi or Punjabi. b) The subjects having visual/ hearing problems and other physical handicaps were not taken into the sample. The above mentioned considerations were important to meet the criterion for the diagnosis of LD (Poikkeus et al., 1999). To study delinquency in girls, the State Protective Homes of Punjab were also approached. However, only 15 female delinquents in aggregate were available owing to which only male sample was incorporated in the study. Because the small sample of female delinquents would not have been representative, hence the data on the female delinquents was not analysed. 56
The sample employed in the study is not claimed to be a perfectly random sample which is the representative of the population. Since the main purpose of the study is not to draw conclusions regarding the universe, but is to explore the relationships between some variables, the criterion of random selection was not perfectly adhered to. Table 3.1 Showing Frequency Distribution, Mean and Standard Deviation of the Age of the Delinquents and Non-Delinquents Age (Rounded to nearest year) f 1 (Delinquents) f 2 (Non-Delinquents) 13 4 8 14 9 12 15 29 34 16 32 48 17 41 28 N=115 N=130 M=15.01 yrs. M=15.58 yrs. SD=1.47 SD=0.93 57
3.2 PSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS Following tests were used in the present study to collect the required information from the subjects: (i) Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM; Raven, Court and Raven, 1983) (ii) The Bender-Gestalt Test (B-G; Pascal & Suttell, 1951) (iii) Stroop Color and Word Test (Golden and Freshwater, 1998) (iv) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R; Eysenck and Eysenck, 1975) (v) Family Environment Scale (FES; Moos and Moos, 1986) (i) Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM) Raven, Court and Raven (1983) Ravens Standard Progressive Matrices (SPM), originally published in 1938, was constructed for comparing people with respect to their immediate capacities for observation and clear thinking. The Standard Progressive Matrices, Sets A, B, C, D and E is a test of a person's capacity to apprehend meaningless figures presented for his observation, see the relations between them, conceive the nature of the figure, completing each system of relations presented, and by so doing, develop a systematic method of reasoning. The scale consists of 60 problems divided into five sets of 12. In each of these 60 matrices, a part has been removed and the subject is asked to choose a missing insert from 6 or 8 given alternatives. In each set, the first problem is as nearly as possible self evident. The problems which follow become progressively more difficult. The order of the items provides the standard training in the method of working. The five sets provide five opportunities for grasping the method and five progressive assessments of a person's capacity for intellectual activity. The scale can be used with children as well as adults. The test-retest reliability ranges from 0.83 to 0.93. The test has been successfully used in Indian Context by Goenka (1993). A person's score on the test is the total number of problems he solves correctly when he is allowed to work quietly through the series from the beginning to the end. 58
The test was used in the present study without any modification. It was administered individually on every subject. Standard instructions and scoring procedure provided in the manual were followed. To adhere to the criterion of average or above average intelligence in learning disabled children, both the delinquent as well as non-delinquent groups were required to be equated on intelligence. So after administering and scoring the test, the first quartile of the intelligence score of the total sample (n=245) was calculated which came out to be 24.13. It was calculated to identify the subjects who were not low on intelligence. The same cut off of low intelligence was used for delinquents as well as non-delinquents. Therefore, only those delinquents and non-delinquents were taken into sample who obtained intelligence score above 24.13. And those having intelligence score below 24.13 were deleted, leaving 93 subjects in the delinquent sample and 112 subjects in the non-delinquent group. (ii) The Bender-Gestalt Test (B-G) - Pascal and Suttell (1951) The Bender-Gestalt test is a neuropsychological test consisting of nine simple designs each of which is presented to subject for him to copy on a sheet of paper. This test has come into widespread use as a clinical instrument. It is used to estimate maturation, psychological disturbances, visual motor deficits, the effects of injury on the cortex and learning disabilities. Deviation from B-G stimuli in the scoring system run from faithful reproductions with low scores to extremely deviant reproductions with very high scores. This continuum is correlated with a progression from less to greater psychological or neurological disturbance. The interscorer reliability of the test has been found out to be.90 with a mean raw score of 33.1 for scorer A and 29.3 for scorer B. With an interval of 24 hours elapsing between the tests, the test-retest reliability turned out to be.71. In our study, the test was administered and scored according to the instructions and scoring procedure given in the manual. Raw score of 46 corresponding to Z score of 72 was taken as a cutoff point to identify the subjects with learning disability (Pascal and Suttell, 1951). The subject having raw score above 46 were screened out for learning disability. 59
(iii) Stroop Color and Word Test- Golden and Freshwater (1998) Stroop Color and Word test is also a neuropsychological test which consists of three pages. Each page has 100 items presented in 5 columns of 20 items. The word page consists of the words RED, Green and Blue arranged randomly and printed in black ink on a sheet of paper. The color page consists of 100 items all written as XXXX, printed in either red, green or blue ink. The color word page consists of the words from the word page printed in the colors from the color page. The subject is given 45 seconds to complete the items on each page. On word page, the subject is asked to read the words down the columns starting with the first one. Similarly, the subject is instructed to name as many colors as he can on the color page within 45 seconds. For the color word page, the subject is asked to name the color of the ink, the words are printed in, ignoring the word that is printed for each item. The number of items completed on three pages makes their respective scores. This test has been successfully used as a screening instrument in neuropsychological investigations (Rojas and Bennett, 1995; Dikmen et al; 1995). Stroop Color and Word test was administered individually with 45 second version in the present study. And it was used to assess learning disability or dyslexia in the subjects. To overcome the language barrier, the words printed on word page and color word page were translated into Hindi and Punjabi. Interference score was used as a key criterion to assess learning disabled subjects. The subjects scoring low word, high color and higher color-word scores are representative of dyslexia or verbal deficits. The Stroop is an extremely useful technique in diagnosing dyslexia in both children and adults. Word scores are low because of the inability to read, while color naming is normal, as is expected in pure dyslexia which affects no other ability. In cases where the person can inhibit the word naming response, the color-word score will be higher than the predicted, yielding a positive value for the interference score. Whereas in cases where the word reading actively interferes with the color naming process, the color word score in lower than the predicted, yielding a negative value for the interference score. So high positive interference score is indicative of learning disability. Golden and Freshwater (1998) state that such cases may suggests a developmental learning disorder. If an individual is dyslexic, there will be little interference on the color-word page. 60
The Stroop Interference Color-Word page basically tests the ability of the individual to separate the word and color naming stimuli. If this can be done, the individual can suppress the reading response and proceed with color naming. In other people, the suppression of the word naming fails to occur and the individual must process both the word and color before responding. In a final group, the word and color response are inextricably confounded, giving rise to high levels of interference. This generalized analysis applies only when the word naming response is faster than the color reading response and is automatic. In children and others with weaker and less automatic reading skills, the test appears to measure the relevant dominance of the verbal/ reading system. (iv) Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R)- Eysenck and Eysenck (1975) The Eysenck Personality Questionnaire- Revised gives ready measure of three important personality dimensions: Psychoticism, Extraversion and Neuroticism. Each of these three traits are measured by means of 90 questions, carefully selected after lengthy item analysis and factor analysis. It must suffice here to say that psychoticism is an independent dimension which describes the personality as solitary, troublesome, cruel, lacking in feeling and empathy, hostile to others, sensation seeking, and liking odd and unusual things. Neuroticism refers to the general emotional lability of a person, his emotional over-responsiveness and his tendency of neurotic breakdown under stress. Extraversion as opposed to introversion, refers to the outgoing, uninhibited, social proclivities of a person. Besides, EPQ-R also assesses the deliberate faking on the part of subject with the lie scale incorporated in it. Three possible and plausible reasons for high scoring on the L scale have been given: (1) deliberate faking with intent to deceive the user; (2) response in terms of an ideal selfconcept rather than a candid self-appraisal; (3) response in terms of honest but inaccurate and uninsightful self-assessment. EPQ-R is a 90 item, Yes/No self reported personality inventory which provides four scores per subject. Extraversion (0=extreme introvert, 21= extreme extravert), Neuroticism (0= non neurotic, 21= very neurotic), Psychoticism (0= low psychoticism, > 10= high on psychoticism) and lie (0=low lie score, > 10= signs of 61
social desirability factor). The lie scale can be used to eliminate subjects showing a desirability response set. EPQ-R has excellent test-retest reliability mostly lying the.80 to.90 region. Internal consistency reliability has been found to be ranging from.71 to.88. The test has been successfully used on Indian sample by Prasad et al. (1974). In this study, the items of EPQ-R were translated into Hindi by following proper translation and retranslation procedures. After scoring the questionnaires, the subjects who scored more than two standard deviations above the mean on the lie scale were eliminated from the sample (c.f. Heaven and Virgen, 2001). This led to the elimination of five subjects from non-delinquent sample, thus resulting in the total sample of 107 non-delinquents and 93 delinquents. (v) Family Environment Scale (FES) Form R- Moos and Moos (1986) The Family Environment Scale (FES) form R comprises of 10 subscales that measure the social environmental characteristics of all types of families, and the individuals perception of his or her family environment. The ten FES subscales assess three underlying domains, or sets of dimensions: the relationship dimension, the personal growth dimensions, and the system maintenance dimensions (See Table no. 3.2). Internal consistency of subscales range from 0.61 to 0.78. Test-retest reliability ranges from 0.68 to 0.86. Several studies support the construct validity of FES subscales (Sandler and Barrera, 1984; Swindle, 1983; Brown et al., 1981). In India, this test has been successfully used by Tung and Jhingan (2002), Chahal (2003). Scoring of the scale is a simple clerical task using the template. The number of crosses showing through the template in each column are counted and entered at the bottom. The boxes at the bottom show the scores for all the 10 subscales. The items of FES in the present study were translated into Hindi with adequate translation and retranslation procedures. 62
Demographic Information Apart from the information gathered on the psychological measures, a performa was used to collect the demographic details of the participants and their families. The information pertaining to participants age, birth order, educational qualification, family structure, drug or alcohol addiction in parents was collected. 3.3 PROCEDURE Before administering the tests, a rapport was established with the subjects. In order to win their confidence, the subjects were assured that the information was being collected purely for research purpose and would be kept confidential. Moreover, the delinquents were extended complete cooperation in grasping the test items. On the delinquents group, all the above-mentioned tests were administered individually. Separate instructions were given for each test. On the non-delinquent group, Standard Progressive Matrices, the Bender-Gestalt test and Stroop Color and Word test were administered individually whereas EPQ-R and FES were administered in the groups comprising of 10 subjects. As one of the objectives of the present research was to study the link between learning disabilities and delinquency, it was essential to categorize the subjects into learning disabled and non-learning disabled categories. LD is a disorder that affects people s ability to either interpret what they see and hear or to link information from different parts of the brain. Learning disabilities can be divided into two main groups: 1. Involvement of auditory-visual processes, resulting in reading disorders (dyslexia) and other language based learning problems. 2. Involvement of visual and motor processes, resulting in poor handwriting (dysgraphia), problems with Mathematics (dyscalculia) and deficits in social skills. Unlike other disabilities, such as paralysis or blindness, a learning disability is a hidden handicap. A learning disability doesn t disfigure or leave visible signs that would invite others to understand or offer support because learning disabled 63
Table 3.2 List of Variables of Family Environment Scale Relationship dimensions Subscales Symbols Explanation 1 Cohesion COH 2 Expressiveness EX 3 Conflict CON The degree of support, and commitment in the family The extent of being open and expressing freely The amount of aggression and anger amongst family members 4 Independence IND The extent of being assertive and self sufficient Personal Growth Dimensions 5 6 7 Achievement Orientation Intellectual Cultural Orientation Active Recreational Orientation AO ICO ARO The extent of having a competent framework The degree of interest in political social and cultural activities The extent of participation in social and recreational activities 8 Moral Religious Emphasis MRE The degree of emphasis on ethical and religious issues and values System Maintenance Dimensions 9 Organisation ORG 10 Control CTL The degree of structure in planning family activities The extent of rules and procedures in the family 64
individuals have average or above average intelligence. To meet this criterion of average and above average intelligence in learning disabled individuals, the subjects in the present study were controlled on intelligence as reported earlier. Because the neuropsychological correlates of learning disability potentially include visual-spatial abilities (Moffitt and Silva, 1998), motor skills (Denckla and Rudel, 1978) and lingual skills (Karanth and Rozario, 2003), therefore, the Bender-Gestalt test and Stroop Color and Word test were used to measure LD. Then following criterion was used to classify the subjects into learning disabled and non-learning disabled categories. (1) The subjects having raw score above 46 were screened out for visualperceptual deficits (Pascal and Suttell, 1951). (2) Interference score of the Stroop Color Word test was used as a key score to assess dyslexic subjects. The subjects exhibiting deficits in one of these measures were screened out for learning disabilities. 3.4 STATISTICAL ANALYSES The raw scores collected after the administration of above tests were subjected to the following statistical analyses: 1. Frequency distribution, mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis of all the variables included in the study. 2. Reliability coefficients for the scores on measured variables were computed by the test-retest method of estimating reliability. 3. To find out the percentage of learning disabilities in delinquents and nondelinquents, the percentage analysis was carried out. 4. For the demographic details, the percentage analysis was done to find out the percentage of delinquents and non-delinquents on the variables included in demographic details. 5. For different variables with scores on nominal scale, the chi-square analysis was applied. 6. To compare the groups on the measures of learning disabilities, personality and family environment, t-test was applied. 7. To identify the variables which are important predictors of the groups under study, the Discriminant Analyses were applied. 65
Table 3.3 List of Variables Used in the Study S. No. Symbols Name of the variable 1. LD Learning Disabilities (a) Visual perceptual deficits (b) Language deficits 2. P Psychoticism 3. E Extraversion 4. N Neuroticism 5. COH Cohesion 6. EX Expressiveness 7. CON Conflict 8. IND Independence 9. AO Achievement Orientation 10. ICO Intellectual Cultural Orientation 11. ARO Active Recreational Orientation 12. MRE Moral Religious Emphasis 13. ORG Organisation 14. CTL Control 66