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Differences in social skills performance between institutionalized juvenile male offenders and a comparable group of boys without offence records
Author(s) -
Spence Susan H.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1981.tb00514.x
Subject(s) - psychology , juvenile delinquency , anxiety , social anxiety , rating scale , developmental psychology , employability , clinical psychology , social skills , psychiatry , pedagogy
Eighteen institutionalized young male offenders and 18 boys without criminal records, comparable in terms of age, academic performance and social background, were videotaped during a five‐minute standardized interview with a previously unknown adult. The videotapes were then subjected to a behavioural analysis of 13 responses which had previously been suggested to be important social skill components. The tapes were also shown to six independent judges who rated each tape in terms of social skills performance, social anxiety, friendliness, and employability. The offender group was found to differ significantly from the non‐offender group in terms of the level of eye‐contact, head movements, amount spoken, fiddling movements, and gross body movements. The offender group was also rated in significantly less favourable terms on the scales of social skills performance, social anxiety, and employability, compared to the non‐offender groups. No significant difference was found in terms of friendliness ratings. Correlation analyses between the specific behavioural measures and the subjective rating scales revealed statistically significant associations between six of the 13 behavioural measures and one or more of the subjective rating scales. This provides some indication of the type of responses important in determining the impression made by adolescent males in an interview situation.