The Utility of Self-Concept as a Predictor of Recidivism Among Juvenile Offenders

Abstract

Forty institutionalized male juvenile offenders in the United States were administered a Role Construct Repertory Grid (Kelly, 1955) and the Self-Consciousness Scale (Fenigstein, Scheier, & Buss, 1975) to determine whether frequent offenders could be differentiated from infrequent offenders on the basis of these instruments. We hypothesized that the frequent offenders would have more “delinquent” self-concepts than the infrequent offenders. The results did not confirm this hypothesis. In fact, the frequent offender group actually had fewer delinquent self-concepts than the offender group, although the trend was not statistically significant. This finding is interpreted as an indication that some offenders who acknowledge their delinquent orientation are better able to apply their personal resources toward control of their behavior.