The purpose of this study was to determine whether delinquent reading underachievers differ from delinquent reading achievers relative to the types of offenses committed. More specifically the study sought answers to the following research questions: (RQ(,1)) Do delinquents who are reading underachievers differ from other delinquents who are reading achievers with respect to the types of offenses committed? (RQ(,2)) Are delinquent reading underachievers more prone to commit the following offenses than delinquent reading achievers?: (1) status offenses; (2) person offenses; (3) property offenses; (4) drug offenses; (5) alcohol offenses; (6) sex offenses; and (7) other offenses. / A random sample of 300 Virginia training school delinquents was chosen from a population of 1,116 using a table of random numbers. Thirty-eight of the sample were discarded because of mental handicaps (IQs below 90 based on the Kuhlmann-Anderson Intelligence Test). Thus, 262 delinquents were actually involved in the study. / The first step in the treatment of data was to classify each delinquent as a reading achiever or underachiever. Reading underachievers were defined as students who are reading two or more years below their expected potential as measured by the Wide Range Achievement Test (Reading). Forty-one of the 262 delinquents were females. Twenty-eight were classified as reading achievers. The remaining 221 delinquents were males. Of this number, 181 were classified as reading underachievers and 40 were classified as reading achievers. / The second step in the treatment of data retrieved from a central file was the tabulation of offenses committed by both reading achievers and underachievers for each category. / A chi-square test and a test of proportion were used to test the hypotheses generated for this study using a 5 percent significance level. / Results indicated that delinquent reading underachievers differed from delinquent reading achievers relative to property offenses. / The researcher recommends that: (1) Instructors emphasize the relevancy of their subject matter to life situations. (2) Reading failures be given maximum opportunities to succeed through early diagnosis and effective remedial programs. (3) Correctional authorities review current practices to effectuate correctional reform for failures in general and reading failures in particular. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 43-12, Section: A, page: 4049. / Thesis (Ph.D.)--The Florida State University, 1982.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_74973 |
| Contributors | BARCO, WILLIAM ELVERT., Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | 112 p. |
| Rights | On campus use only. |
| Relation | Dissertation Abstracts International |
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