470 Journal of Clinical Psychology, Apr i l , 1979, Vol. 35, No. 2. Another alternative would be to drop altogether the idea of attempting to predict such a low frequency event, unless confronted with overwhelming data.

In summary, the problem associated with escapes from FCI Seagoville and other federal or state correctional institutions will continue, but the ability of the Ec scale to contribute meaningfully to custodial decisions appears quite limited. The current findings suggest that its present or future use within federal and state penal systems should be reevaluated.

REFERENCE NOTE 1. North Carolina Division of Research and Planning. Research note on reinvestigation of MMPI

Escape scale. Raleigh, North Carolina, 1974.

REFERENCES BDAMS, T. C., & WIZST, J. E.

BEALL, H. S., & PANTON, J. H.

JOHNSTON, N., & COOKE, G.

MEEHL, P. E., & ROSEN, A.

SHUPE, D. R., & BRAMWELL, P. F.

Another look a t the use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory as an index to “escapism.” Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1976, 32, 580-582.

Use of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory as an index to “escapism.” Journal of Clinical Psychology, 1956, 12, 392-394.

Relationship of MMPI alcoholism, prison escape, hostility control and recidivism scales to clinical judgment. Journal of Cliiiical Psychology, 1973, 29, 32-34,

Antecedent probability and the efficiency of psychometric signs. patterns, or cutting scores. Psychological Bulletiu, 1955, 52, 194-216.

Predictions of escape from MMPI data. Jourtral of Clinical Psychology, 1963, 19, 223-226.

A PSYCHOMETRIC AND BEHAVIORAL COMPARISON OF DELINQUENTS WHO WERE ABUSED AS CHILDREN

WITH THEIR NON-ABUSED PEERS‘ SUSAN ROGERS ARNOLD LeUNES’

Texas Department of Human Resources Texas A&M Universzly

Investigated responses of abused and non-abused juvenile delinquents to Bell’s Adjustment Inventory and Gough’s California Psychological Inventory, and information with regard to several related behavioral measures. The Ss were 52 institutionalized adolescent males and females. Results indicated that the abused Ss scoied significantly higher than the non-abused group on the Home Adjustment Scale (indicative of poorer adjustment) and signifi- cantly lower than the non-abused group on the Flexibility, Tolerance, and Socialization Scales. Subsequent analysis showed a significant interaction effect on the behavioral measure with regard to the number of runaway at- tempts; abused males made significantly more attempts than abused females and non-abused males and females.

A major social problem in America is the willful mistreatment of children. Many children die or are maimed as a result of the nonaccidental use of force by their parents or caretakers. The children who are abused are usually under 3 years of age; most, in fact, are infants (Fontana, 1973; Iiempe, Silverman, Steele, Droege- mueller, & Silver, 1962). Many times the child who is abused is a special child in that he or she is singled out from among other siblings for abuse (Young, 1964).

‘The authors wish to thank the Texas Youth Council leadership for its cooperation in the con-

ZReprint requests should be directed to Arnold LeUnes, Department of Psychology, Texas duct of this research.

A&M University, College Station, Texas 77843.

Child Abuse 47 1

According to Martin (1972), there is ample evidence that the battered child may grow up with violence playing a prominent role in his behavior repertoire. For example, Easson and Steinhilber (1961) saw in psychiatric consultation cight boys, aged 8 to 16, who had attempted murder, one successfully. In twu of these cases there was a clear history of habitual brutal beating by a parent, and the histories of three others contained remarks that lead one to wonder whether bru- tality to the child were being concealed.

Zalba (1966) states that abuse, like other behavior, becomes habitual; chil- dren learn from the behavior that they witness and they internalize conceptions of themselves communicated to them by others. He further states that life in an unfavorable family environment can result in a dependent, unstable, impulse- ridden, delinquent adult who will, in turn, become a poor parent, and will generate in this way an epidemiological chain of inadequate destructive parenting.

The previous studies have shown that abused children grow up with many problems as a result of the abuse. This study gathered data on abused males and females who have been institutionalized in state schools for delinquent behavior and compared them with other institutionalized non-abused delinquents on self- report inventories and behavioral measures.

METHOD Subjects

Ss were 26 males and 26 females, ages 14 to 18, institutionalized for a variety of criminal offenses in two state schools in Texas. Before the data were collected, i t was determined that a S was to be discarded if he were unwilling to participate voluntarily in the testing. Additionally, no attempt was made to ascertain and analyze ethnicity of the 8s.

Procedure Each adolescent was contacted in the institutional environment. On the

basis of past medical records, caseworker reports, and social history that concerned physical abuse or non-abuse, the senior author assigned the Ss to four groups: Abused males ( N = 13), non-abused males ( N = 13), abused females ( N = 13), non-abused females ( N = 13). Though obviously subject to criticism, it is main- tained that the records are rather explicit in describing abuse. Repeated obser- vations from medical or social records substantiate this point. Somewhat less confidence may be expressed in the designation of non-abuse because there may be a few undetected cases of abuse among this group. However, the rather over- whelming damage usually infficted by physical abuse lends credence to this des- ignation. In short, i t is felt that the records were rather explicit in describing abuse and in reporting evidence of non-abuse. No amount of readers could eliminate this difficulty so often inherent in field research.

Instruments The psychometric measures used were the Bell Adjustment Inventory (Bell,

1963) and Gough’s (1957) California Psychological Inventory (CPI). Five behav- ioral measures were gathered from the institutional files for the previous 6 months and were analyzed separately. Included were : Fights participated in, suicide at- tempts, school expulsions as a result of fighting or unruly behavior, runaway at- tempts, and Crisis Prevention Center commitments.

Desigtt A 2 X 2 analysis of variance design was used to analyze the psychometric

and behavioral data. In some instances the number of Ss was less than 52 because of a failure to complete properly the psychometric instruments. In no case, how- ever, did the number of Ss fall below 48.

47 2 Journal of Clinical Psychology, April, 1979, Vol. 35, N o . 2.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION On the Bell, only one of the five subscales was significant; the abused Ss ( M

= 86.78) scored significantly higher than non-abused Ss (M = 66.42, F(1,48) = 13.17, p <.01) on the Home Adjustment Scale. According to Bell, the higher the score, the less satisfactory the home relationship may be viewed.

With regard to the CPI, 3 of the 18 subscales were significant. On the Toler- ance scale, abused Ss (M = 24.65) scored lower than non-abused ones (M = 31.81, F(1,51) = 4.38, p <.05). Suspicious, narrow, aloof, overly judgmental in attitude are some of the terms Cough uses to describe low scorers on this scale. Again on Flexibility, the abused Ss (M = 45.62) were lower than the non-abused (A!! = 51.15, F(1,51) = 4.78, p <.05). Low scores here are described as deliberate, cautious, guarded, rigid, and overly deferential to authority, among other things. Finally, the abused (M = 22.50) scored lower than the non-abused (M = 28.31, F(1,51) = 6.23, p <.01) on the Socialization scale, a measure of social maturity, integrity and rectitude. Interestingly, both groups scored lower than the norma- tive mean reported by Gough.

With regard to the five behavioral measures, an interaction effect was found on runaway attempts (F(1,51) = 4.39, p < .05) ; abused males ( A 1 = .46) exhibited significantly more attempts than the other three groups.

I n summary, we see that the abused delinquents, when compared with their non-abused delinquent counterparts, are characterized by poorer home adjust- ment, relative intolerance and suspicion, inflexibility and rigidity, and deficient socialization. Additionally, abused males apparently adjust sdmewhat poorly to the institutional environment as evidenced by runaway attempts. Although all Ss share delinquency and institutionalization, it appears that abuse as a young child has taken its toll on those with a history of physical mistreatment. I n any event, further research on the long-term effects of abuse is indicated by the results of this study.

REFERENCES BELL, H.

1963. E a s s o ~ , W., & STEINHILBER, R.

of General Psychiatry, 1961, 4, 1-10, FONTANA, V.

millan. 1973.

Bell Adjustment Inventory Manual. Palo Alto, Calif. : Consulting Psychologists Piess,

Murderous aggression by children and adolescents. Archives

Somewhere a child is crying: Maltreatment-causes and preuention. New York: Mac-

GOUGH, H. California Psychological Ziioentory manual. Palo Alto, Calif. : Consulting Psychologists Press, 1957.

KEMPO, C., SILVERMAN, F., STEXL~:, B., DROLGEMUELLER, W., & SILVER, H. syndrome. Journal of the American Medical Associatioir, 1962, 181, 17-24.

MARTIN, H. child and his family. Philadelphia: Lippincott, 1972.

YOUNG, L. ZALBA, S.

The battered-child

The child and his development. In C. Kempe & R. Helfei (Eds.), Helpiirg the battered

Wedriesday’s childrex A study of child neglect and abuse. New York: MeGraw-Hill, 1964. The abused child: A survey of the problem. Social Work, 1966, 11, 3-16.