Citation

Emms TW, Povey RM, Clift SM. Br. J. Criminol. 1986; 26(4): 385-393.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1986, Centre for Crime and Justice Studies, Publisher Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Despite the wide range of "self-concept" research which has been carried out in Britain and America, there is little published work on the self-concepts of British teenage black delinquents. The present study investigates this question, using a modified version of Berger's (1952) "acceptance of self" scale, with a sample of 20 black and 20 white male subjects resident in a youth custody centre. In contrast to most previous research findings showing British blacks to have significantly lower levels of self-concept than whites, the group of black delinquents in this research had a marginally higher mean score than the matched white delinquent group. Although the difference between the mean scores is not statistically significant, the findings are in line with the trends observed in American research (Taylor & Walsh, 1979) towards an increase in black self-concept. It is suggested that research into the comparative levels of black and white self-concept in different settings would merit further investigation in Britain.