Delinquency Research and the Self-Concept Variable

The present paper considers the self-concept variable in delinquency research.The seminal work with this variable, done by Reckless and his colleagues, is the subject of analysis.The various papers published by the Reckless group are viewed as a series of interim reports of an on-going research process.The authors note that while the research has been of crucial importance to the delinquency literature, there are problems of sampling, measurement, and interpretation as well as a lack of theoretical orientation which place very severe restrictions on the predictive utility of the selfconcept variable.They observe that although there is a high probability of the utility of the variable, more refined and sophisticated studies are necessary.