SOCIAL DEVIANCY AND
ADOLESCENT PERSONALITY
A UNIVERSITY OF
KENTUCKY STUDY
Social Deviancy and
Adolescent Personality
AN ANALYTICAL STUDY
WITH THE MMPI
by
John C. Ball
Copyright 1962 by the University of Kentucky Press
Printed in the United States of America by the
University of Kentucky Printing Division
Library of Congress Catalog Card
No. 62-13457
The publication of this book has been made possible partly
through a grant from the Margaret Voorhies Haggin Trust,
established in memory of her husband, James Ben Ali Haggin.
To the late
H. C. BREARLEY
FOREWORD
Less than two decades ago the first study of delinquency and personality characteristics in which the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) played a prominent role was published. This study, reported by Dora F. Capwell in 1945, produced results which suggested that the several scales of the MMPI differentiated significantly between groups of delinquent and nondelinquent girls.
The rather unusual aspect of the Capwell findingsunusual in the sense that they indicated that some of the MMPI scales seemed to have this discriminatory powergave rise to a host of research projects employing the MMPI to contrast the personality characteristics of delinquent and nondelinquent boys and girls. With few exceptions these studies have substantiated the Capwell findings. In general, nondelinquent boys obtain scores showing them to be socially introverted, neurotic, and feminine in interests. Delinquent boys, contrastingly, tend to be socially aggressive, rebellious, cynical, negative, difficult, and expansive. Delinquent girls have distinguishing personality characteristics similar to those of delinquent boys.
The MMPI is a psychometric device which provides data on a variety of personality dimensions from a set of 550 items covering a wide range of topics. These items have usually been applied in the study of personality by the use of ten clinical scales and three validating scales which provide the standard MMPI personality profile. These profiles reveal the self-perception of the subject in relation to others in his social world as well as some of the various roles he plays. In other words, an individuals MMPI profile constitutes a personal and social self-evaluation.
Professor Ball further explores with the MMPI the interrelationships of behavior and personality. To this end he has made interesting and significant cross-sectional group comparisons of behavioral items and MMPI profile data. He has compared delinquents and nondelinquents, school achievers and nonachievers, white and Negro adolescents, low and high status high school students, adolescents who live in broken homes with those who do not, and adolescents who are rated by their teachers as maladjusted with those who are not. These comparisons are made in the hope of aiding in the development and use of more precise knowledge of the social and psychological factors associated with deviancy and conformity.
Professor Balls findings again demonstrate that the MMPI is a useful instrument in the study of the personality patterns of nonconforming and conforming groups of adolescents.
STARKE R. HATHAWAY
ELIO D. MONACHESI
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am indebted to Vice President Herman E. Spivey of the University of Tennessee for his encouragement to initiate this study. The assistance of Austin T. Turk was invaluable in planning the project and collecting the data.
It is a pleasure to thank F. D. Wilkinson and O. A. Adams, as well as the many teachers and more numerous students, for generously contributing their time and effort to this project.
Robert Hammond, former superintendent of Kentucky Village, was most helpful in facilitating the collection of information at the training school.
Financial support for this study was provided by the Kentucky Research Foundation of the University of Kentucky. I also wish to acknowledge assistance received from the Department of Sociology and the Computer Center, both of the University of Kentucky.
Miss Rosa Lena Brumfield assisted the project continually in varied ways and undertook the major secretarial tasks. In this regard, thanks are also due Mrs. Nancy Chairatana, Miss Cynthia Allen, Miss Alice Simpson, and Mrs. Emily Cottrell.
Lastly, I wish to thank Dr. S. R. Hathaway and Professor Elio D. Monachesi for their interest in this study and for their many helpful suggestions.
JOHN C. BALL
CONTENTS
TABLES, LISTS OF CODES, FIGURES
1
THE STUDY OF SOCIAL DEVIANCY AND PERSONALITY
THE PURPOSE of this study is to trace the relationship of personality to social deviancy among adolescents. In particular, the association of delinquency, minority group status, low socioeconomic status, broken homes, and failure in school with personality patterns among Kentucky boys and girls of high school age is the subject of analysis.
The problem of ascertaining the relationship of adolescent personality to various types of behavior and environmental conditions is one of far-reaching significance in the behavioral sciences. It is an important problem because we are interested in determining how personality develops. In order to accomplish this, two research approaches seem necessary:
1.Delineation of personality patterns to be found within the various segments of the youthful population. The emphasis here is upon cross-sectional studies.
2.Determination of the complex of influences and factors which produce change in the personality of children. Longitudinal studies which trace the development in personality over a period of years would be required in this instance.
These two approaches to the study of youthful personalityand behaviorare interrelated. In the first case, the objective is to establish the distribution of personality patterns in the population and to relate these characteristics to such personal and background factors as shyness, aggressiveness, intelligence, health, broken homes, and school failure. In these studies common personality patterns found among the nations youth are described and variations from the typical delineated. Thus, the mild rebelliousness and considerable energy among adolescents of high school age have been substantiated by objective personality measurement. Among juvenile delinquents, the dominance of an antisocial personality type has been consistently reported.
Secondly, longitudinal studies will build upon our knowledge of general population characteristics by tracing more precise relationships between personality characteristics and influencing factors. It seems likely, however, that these more carefully controlled studies of small groups over considerable time periods will be more definitive if undertaken when the major personality patterns and variations from these patterns have been established by exploratory studies of the first type.
The present study follows the first of the two approaches described. Its objective is the delineation of personality patterns within various segments of a high school population. Personal, family, and community factors which may influence personality patterns are considered with a view to determining which of these is associated with satisfactory and which with unsatisfactory personality characteristics. Attention is focused upon such specific questions as: What effect do broken homes have upon the personality of high school students? Is there less personality maladjustment among girls than boys? Are incarcerated juvenile delinquents different in personality from public school students who have committed delinquent acts? Are Negro boys or girls more successful in academic competition in an integrated high school? To what extent is academic performance related to personality traits and to socioeconomic status? What types of students do high school teachers consider to be maladjusted?
