Female Delinquency and Relational Problems

Matched groups of male and female delinquents and nondelinquenits are studied to test a theory that the greater' rate of male delinquency is due to the different sex role obj ectives for boys and girls. This paper presents evidence supporting the predictions that delinquent girls will (1) more often come from broken homes, (2) more often come from homes with family tensions, and (3) will lack grooming skills more than nondelinquents or than delinquent boys. All these relational handicaps are found imnost commonly among the delinquent girls. T hlis article will present data on three predictions regarding relational problems of female delinquents. These predictions are part of a general theory developed to explain the relationship between sex role and delinquency. The theory postulates that the far greater rate of delinquency among boys is due to differences between the sexes in role objectives. A more detailed exposition of the thieory is available elsewhere;1 but a short summary is given below. Following this, the relevant data are presented and discussed.