Abstract

The present study was designed to investigate the psychological mechanism underlying neurotic delinquency, particularly delinquency associated with depression. Beck Depression Inventory, Scale for Escape from the Self, Latent Delinquency Questionnaire and the brief questionnaire concerning social-enconomic status, academic performance level of the students were administered to 528 students in high school students. First, factor analysis and discriminant function analysis were conducted to validate LDQ and the results demonstrated that LDQ is valid. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the hypothesis that the delinquent behaviors committed by depressed adolescents might be mediated by the state of "cognitive deconstruction" as defined by Baumeister. The results of analyses showed that depression was significantly related to delinquency among that high school students and that the relations between the two variables were mediated by "cognitve deconstruction" as measured by SES. When the subjects were devided into two groups(a high depression group and a low depression group on the basis of BDI score), the cognitive deconstruction variable accounted for more variance in the high depression group than in the low depression group. The results were interpreted to mean that Baumeister's theory of cognitive deconstruction is useful in understanding delinquency associated with depression. Finally, the pattern of results obtatined did not differ depending on the specific types of delinquent behavior, suggesting that the personal characteristics of delinquents are mare important than the type of delinquent behaviors displayed in understanding juvenile delinquency.