The Citizens' Causal Perception toward Juvenile Delinquency

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine what the Japanese citizens perceived as the causes of juvenile delinquency. Questionnaire was mailed to 1,000 people who were randomly selected from the residents in Sendai, and obtained 345 respondents (191 females and 152 males). 64 items were rated to measure the possible causes of delinquency in the five domains (personality, family, school, community, and society). Factor analysis conducted in each domain established 21 dimensions as a total. Although the respondents perceived diverse causes across the domains, they attributed delinquency especially to the problems involved in personality, family, and society. Further, the older respondents perceived the causes in the personality, family, school, and society domains more serious than the younger ones, and the male respondents perceived family problems more serious than the female ones. Respondents' perception of causes of delinquency may reflect recent trends in delinquency, and also may be affected by the mass media.