A Study of Delinquent Girls
- Author:
Pyle, Ph.D.
The University of Missouri, Columbia, Mo.
At the invitation of Mrs. A. M. Clay, superintendent of the State Industrial Home for Girls at Chillicothe, Missouri, and Mr. W. L. Wagner, secretary of the state board of charities, I undertook a mental and physical examination of the girls in the industrial home. The time at my disposal was so limited that I could not undertake individual tests. I did not, therefore, use the Binet tests, but used the group tests described in my manual, The Examination of School Children, and in addition two Ebbinghaus tests. The physical examination consisted in tests of visual and auditory acuity and of muscular strength and speed.
The number of girls in the home was about 240. They were between the ages of 7 and 21, most of them being 16, 17 or 18. According to the state law, these girls had been convicted of being vagrants, or of some offense not punishable with death or imprisonment for life, or their associations had been immoral or criminal, or bad and vicious, or the girls had been incorrigible to such an extent that they could not be controlled by parents or guardians. The primary object of our examination was to find out how many of the girls were of normal mentality and how many were feebleminded. Since norms for the mental tests used had already been established, it seemed that a comparison of the results obtained from the delinquent girls with those obtained from normal girls ought to give a fair indication of their mentality. A very brief description of the tests used is perhaps necessary. The substitution test determines quickness of learning. The type of learning is substituting new characters for the nine digits. The test consists of five minutes practice in writing numbers in the new characters. The invention test determines ability to make words using certain prescribed letters. The free association test determines the quickness of the flow of ideas when no restriction is imposed. The subjects started with the word play and wrote as many words as they could think of in three minutes. In controlled association, the opposites test was used. Four lists of ten each were used. The logical and rote memorrj tests need no explanation. For the former, the Whipple Marble Statue was used, and for the rote memory the lists of concrete and abstract words in the writer’s manual were used. The ink-blots test aspects of imagination and association. The Whipple set of twenty blots was used. The girls were allowed three minutes in which to write down what the blots suggested.
In tables I and II, the results are compared with those obtained from girls in the public schools. In table I, the ages of the girls are given in the first column, the standing of the delinquent girls in the second column, the standing of normal girls in the third column. In the fourth is shown the percentage which the standing of the delinquent girls is of that of the normal girls. It will be seen that on the average, the standing of delinquent girls is only 65 per cent of that of normal girls, ranging from 87 per cent in free association to 45 per cent in the opposites test.
Substitution 15 16 17 18 19 Del. 12 18 18 17 15 Norm 26.8 27.5 28.5 25.9 25.9 Per cent of Norm 44 65 63 65 57 Av. % of normal . 59 Invention Del. 7.5 10.4 11.0 11.7 10.0 Norm 15.0 13.5 13.9 18.8 18.8 Per cent of Norm 50 77 79 62 53 64 Free Association Del. 34 36 41 38 41 Norm 40.2 40.9 41.6 47.1 47.1 Per cent of Norm 84 88 100 80 87 87 Logical Memory 15 16 17 18 19 Del. Norm 20 27 28 26 26 39.1 37.3 36.6 37.8 37.8 Per cent of Norm 51 72 76 66 66 Av. % of normal.. 66 Opposites 15 16 17 18 19 ^1. Norm 9 12 12 12 12 17 19 21 23 23 52 62 56 52 59 Av. % of normal . 45 Rote Memory Del. Norm J?* 28 34 34 35 34 40 41 38 40 40 70 83 89 87 85 83 Ink-blot Test 6.7 6.0 6.7 5.9 5.0 10.4 8.5 9.4 12.0 10.0 64 71 71 49 50 61 TABLE II. Test Logical Memory Rote Memory… Substitution Opposites Free Association Invention Average. 66 83 59 45 87 50 65 II 10.5 22.0 13.0 2.5 38.0 18.0 17 III IV 30 47 32 15 72 34 38 63 76 64 50 72 69
In table II, column I shows the percentage which the standing of the delinquent girls is of that of normal girls. In the second column is shown the number of delinquent girls?expressed in per cent?that make the average of normal girls. For example, in logical memory 10.5 per cent of the delinquent girls are as good as the average of normal girls. In column III, is shown the percentage of delinquent girls who are within the average deviation of the average of the normal girls. In column IV is shown the percentage of delinquent girls who are three years or more behind the norms for their ages.
In the Ebbinghaus test (“completion method”) Where the Dandelions Went and the Strength of the Eagle from Whipple’s Manual were used. Norms for the various school ages have not been worked out for these tests. We therefore compare the delinquent girls with the girls in the Mexico and Hannibal, Mo., high schools, and with sixth grade children in the Jefferson school, Columbia, Mo. The high school pupils considered in the comparison, are the ten poorest pupils in the Mexico school and the sixteen poorest in the Hannibal high school. The standing of the delinquent girls in these tests was 50 per cent of the average standing of the sixth grade pupils. The ages of the sixth grade pupils averaged about 13 years, while the delinquent girls average about 17 years. The standing of the delinquent girls was only 44 per cent of the average standing of the poorest high school pupils. Eightyseven and one-half per cent of the delinquent girls are no better than the average of thirteen year, old children.
In the graphs the distribution of the girls with respect to some of the mental test grades is compared with that of the girls in the Mexico high school. The ages of the high school girls was about the same as the ages of the delinquent girls. Normal girls are represented in the graphs by the solid line and delinquent girls by the broken line. The grades or marks made in the tests are shown along the base, poor at the left, good at the right. And the number of girls making the respective grades is shown by the height of the graph at that point. It will be seen that the best of the delinquent girls are as good as the best of the high school girls, but that there are many more poor delinquent girls.
In the strength test the Smedley dynamometer was used, and speed was determined by the use of a tapping board and electrical counter. There is very little difference between the results obtained from the delinquent girls and the results obtained by Smedley in his tests of Chicago girls. The average right hand grip was 28.4, left hand, 27. The average right hand speed was 189, left hand, 159.
b II lb 21 2b 31 X 41 10 15 20 25 50 35 40 A’5 I. LOGICAL MEMORY. I. LOGICAL MEMORY. ,_nfe II 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 -56 10 15 20 25 30 33 40 45 50 bb 60 IX. ROTE MEMORY. II. ROTE MEMORY. I J 0 6 II 16 21 26 31 36 5 lb 15 20 25 30 05 40 III. SUBSTITUTION. III. SUBSTITUTION.
A detailed comparison by ages is not necessary, for the results are practically the same for the various ages, as the Smedley norms. The Smedley norms for the age 17 are for grip, right hand, 29.56, left hand, 27.43; speed right hand 184, left hand, 162. In the strength tests, the ratio of the left hand to the right hand is about the same as with the Chicago girls. In speed, the delinquents are slightly more ambidextrous, the ratio being 89 per cent, while with Chicago girls it was 86 per cent. But this difference is too small to be of any significance. In the examination of visual acuity my purpose was to determine whether vision was poor enough to need the attention of an oculist. I used a Snellen test chart, seating the girls 20 feet distant. My criterion was as follows: if a girl’s vision was as poor as 2/3 in either eye, or if the vision was as good as 20/25 but the girl complained of any effects of eye-strain, she was recorded as having poor vision. Using this criterion, I found 140 girls that needed the services of an oculist. There were 50 girls that had no better vision than 2/3 and had never worn glasses or been examined by an oculist. Fifty-eight per cent, therefore, have poor vision. Twenty per cent have very poor vision and have never worn glasses or been examined by an oculist. That 50 of these girls with very poor vision should reach maturity without ever having their eyes examined is a fact for serious consideration. I have no doubt that eye-strain resulting from poor vision has been an important factor in the lives of many of these girls. Eye-strain, with other factors, has sent many of them to the institution, and doubtless some of them would never have been sent there if their vision had been corrected in early life. I did not take time to determine the exact nature of each defect, but it was evident that most cases of defective vision were due to myopia or astigmatism, usually both. Two cases of red-green color blindness were discovered.
Hearing was tested by means of a Pilling-McCallie audiometer. There were seven cases of serious defects of hearing and ten cases of slight defects in one or both ears. This is probably no more than would be found in the general population.
We conclude from our study that there is a close relation between mental defect and crime. Our figures would indicate that about one-third of these delinquent girls are normal and about twothirds are subnormal. Most of them are probably high grade morons.
When young people are committed to such an institution as this, they should be carefully examined and tested physically and mentally. They should then be classified according to their ability and each one trained according to the ability shown. Certainly every physical defect should be corrected if possible. However, the real solution of moral delinquency is to get hold of possible delinquents early in their lives. These girls are, most of them, 16, 17, 18, and 19 years old. Their salvation is now a difficult matter. Proper treatment earlier might have saved many of them. Children in the public schools should be carefully examined in mind and body, once or twice a year, and in several states this is already being done. Their classification and training should be in harmony with the results shown by these examinations. Those found to be of feeble mind should be segregated and taught in special classes or special schools. State reformatory institutions should be under the direction not only of physicians but of trained psychologists and teachers of the highest qualification and sound experience. When a boy or girl goes wrong every means known to science should be used to find out why, and society should use every means at its command to bring about reformation,?better still, to prevent the going wrong. Certainly the training of an abnormal child, particularly one who has gone wrong, demands the highest knowledge and skill. State institutions that deal with society’s unfortunates, should be removed from the realm of politics and brought within the realm of science.
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