Abstract
This study assessed the personality adjustment of delinquent boys, rated while they were still in an institution and after release. The results suggest that significant factors of selection were operating to determine whether boys would be returned to their own homes or placed in boarding or group homes. Boys who were more disturbed while still in the institution tended to be placed in group homes; boys who showed an intermediate level of adjustment in the institution were returned to their own homes; and those with the fewest problems in personality adjust ment while institutionalized were placed in boarding homes. Group homes were found to exert a clearly positive, rehabilita tive influence on post-release adjustment, while boarding homes showed a relatively neutral influence. Being returned home, on the other hand, appeared to exert a relatively negative influence on post-release adjustment. The degree to which the placement setting was isolated from the boys' home environment and the degree of supervision and control within the placement setting were potentially important factors in the differential post-release adjustment of boys.
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