The relationship of the type of alleged crime with self-esteem and depressive symptoms in juvenile delinquents -

Abstract

Objective: Stemmed from the idea of “there is no juvenile delinquent, but rather there are juveniles draged to crime”; the children and adolescents who have been referred to Mus State Hospital Child and Adolescent Psychiatric outpatient clinic with different alleged crime types were examined retrospectively, in terms of depression, self-esteem, and various socio-demographic factors. Methods: The study was conducted retrospectively on children and adolescents who were referred to Mus State Hospital between February 2012 and February 2013 for the purpose of forensic psychiatric examination to assess their criminal responsibility regarding the alleged crimes. The children formed three groups of alleged crime types; theft, malicious wounding and terrorist propaganda. Child Depression Inventory (CDI) and Coopersmith Self-Esteem Scale (CSEI) scores were compared. Results: There was a difference between the CDI and CSEI scores of the groups. In post hoc comparisons, the CDI score of the alleged malicious wounding group was lower than the other two groups. CSEI score was significantly higher than the alleged theft group, and almost significantly higher than the alleged terrorist propaganda group. Discussion: It is observed that there is a difference in terms of CDI and CSEI scores between the groups of alleged crime type. In particular, the CDI scores of the alleged malicious wounding group were lower and their self-esteem was higher than the other two groups. This finding suggests that diverse etiologies may have been effective in directing different crime types in juvenile delinquency.