Family Dysfunction and Female Delinquency

Abstract

This article examines the family backgrounds of a group of women who, as adolescents in the early 1960s, were committed to the California Youth Authority predominantly for status offenses and continued their criminal behavior into adulthood. Particular attention is paid to various measures of dysfunction, including family violence, parent-child conflict, family size, structure, and stability. Little variation existed within the various independent measures; all of the women came from dysfunctional homes. The manner in which these young women were dealt with by the Youth Authority is examined within the context of the cultural attitudes of that particular time.