Perceived Competence of Juvenile Delinquents and Nondelinquents

Abstract

The present study compared juvenile delinquents, high achievers, low achievers, and students with behavior problems on an adapted version of Harter's Perceived Competence Scale for Children (Harter, 1982). Four different domains of perceived competence were tested, namely cognitive competence, social competence, physical competence, and general self-worth. The subjects were 30 male delinquents from a maximum security institution and 90 male nondelinquent students from Grades 8, 9, and 10 in a metropolitan high school. Data indicated that the juvenile delinquents attained significantly lower scores than the high achievers and low achievers on the cognitive, social, and general self-worth subscales, but not on the physical subscale. Juvenile delinquents differed significantly from students with behavior problems on the social and general self-worth subscales, but not on the cognitive and physical subscales. The results of the study are discussed in terms of Harter's effectance motivation model.