Neuropsychological Impairment among Juvenile Delinquents

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to investigate the role of neuropsychological impairment among delinquents and non- delinquents. The total sample comprised of two hundred participants consisting of one hundred juvenile and non-juvenile with age range of 10-17 years (M=15.76, SD= 1.93). Data was collected from the incarcerated subjects from three main jails of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa they include, Central Prisons of Kohat, Peshawar Swabi and Haripur with the help of Psychologists serving in the prison. It was hypothesized that delinquents will score higher on neuropsychological impairment scale as compared to non-delinquents. Neuropsychological impairment will be significantly correlated with the scores of delinquency. The results revealed significant impairment in the neurological functioning of the delinquents as compared to non-delinquents. In the present study six neuropsychological deficits were measured, they included neuropsychological emotional, learning, sensory motor, concentration, and neuropsychological depression in association with delinquency. Hence the results produced three key findings, first the sub-scales of neuropsychological impairment were significantly positively associated with delinquency. Second, sub-scales of neuropsychological impairment predicted variation in the magnitude of association with delinquency. Third, of all the six sub-scales neuropsychological emotional problems, neuropsychological motor problems and neuropsychological depression were slightly strongly associated with delinquency as compared to learning, sensory motor and concentration problem.

Keywords

• delinquent
• neuropsychological impairment
• neuropsychological emotional problems
• learning problems
• sensory motor problems
• concentration problems
• neuropsychological depression