PATTERNED OFFENDERS: FAMILY BACKGROUND
One of the interesting aspects of this study is the offender’s impression of how his parents got along together when he was in his mid-teens. There proved to be a strong tendency for the parents of the incidental offenders to have gotten along better with one another than the parents of the patterned offenders.
In spite of these differences in interparental adjustment there appear to be no significant differences between the groups with regard to the proportion whose parental home was broken by divorce, separation, or death. Similarly we found nothing worth comment regarding their ages when the home broke up or their subsequent living arrangements.
The adjustment of the future offender with his parents proved to be a significant item. In three groups the incidental offenders bad definitely better mother relationships, and this same tendency is visible in a fourth group. Of the remaining two groups, the patterned incest offenders seemed to have the better relationship and among the aggressors no meaningful differences between the incidental and patterned offenders exist.
The situation with regard to adjustment with the father is similar: with but one exception (the incest offenders vs. children) far more incidental offenders got along well with their fathers than did the patterned offenders.
Evidently a good relationship with one’s parents is, except for incest offenders, a factor in the prevention or inhibition of patterned offense behavior.
When asked whether they got along with both parents equally well or whether they got along better with one or the other, consistently more incidental offenders than patterned offenders reported they got along equally well with both. This lack of preference is a “healthy” sign and it is gratifying to find that here it is a characteristic of the incidental rather than the patterned offenders.
Examination of the ratio of brothers to sisters revealed no consistent trends, and in most groups no appreciable differences. However, in rank-order of birth there is a tendency for the patterned offenders to be the only child (true in five of the six groups) or the eldest (four of six groups).
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