Prevention of Delinquency through Guided Group Experience 1

Axline Virginia Mae . Play Therapy: The Inner Dynamics of Childhood. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1947.

A helpful combination of theory and practice adding up to an understanding of the nature of play therapy.

Bailard Virginia , and McKown Harry C. So You Were Elected! New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., 1946.

A book for students, written in their own language, which shows them how to be successful as leaders of group activities. It helps them preside over meetings, handle committees, and organize and carry on activities. Their teachers could get helpful ideas from it, too.

Bavelas Alex , and Lewin Kurt . “Training in Democratic Leadership,” Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, XXXVII (January, 1942), 115–19.

This article emphasizes that one of the first steps is to make trainees more sensitive to the multitude of ways in which a leader can meet the various social situations. These trainees observed many leaders, good and poor, observed each other and the trainer himself, and studied films based on experiments.

Baxter Bernice , and Cassidy Rosalind . Group Experience: The Democratic Way. New York: Harper & Bros., 1943.

Action pictures of groups of different ages, interwoven with discussion of the characteristics of leaders and the nature of group work.

Bonnet M. E. “A Sociometric Study of the Relations of Some Factors to Mutual Friendships in the Elementary, Secondary, and College Level,” Sociometry, IX (February, 1946), 21–47.

A report of methods and findings of an investigation showing only a slight relationship between mutual friendships and academic achievement, vocational interests as measured by the Kuder Preference Record, socioeconomic background, and California Test of Personality.

Coffman S. , and Orr D. W. “Excerpts from a Mental Hygiene Reader,” Bulletin, Menninger Clinic, 1940, Vol. IV, pp. 1–11.

Episodes recorded in a class for maladjusted children between the ages of seven and fifteen; shows ability of children to gain insight into their own motives and mental mechanisms, through free expression of opinion in group discussion in the presence of an understanding and accepting adult.

Gardner George E. , and Wollan Kenneth I. “Activity-Interview in the Study of Delinquency,” American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, XI (January, 1941), 143–49.

A description of a program of the Citizen Training Department of the Boston Juvenile Court, which included interviews, daily participation in games, and attendance in “free-for-all” classroom discussions of problems pertinent to a boy's life in the highly congested sections of a city. Systematic observation in the informal activities yields information about aggressive behavior, emotional stability, energy and drives, sociability, social and cultural standards, comparative assets and liabilities, and capacity for taking responsibility.

Giles H. H. Teacher-Pupil Planning. New York: Harper & Bros., 1941.

A very resent help to teachers in developing the pupil-teacher planning aspects of democratic leadership in school groups. Many illustrations of successful practical programs are included; theory and practice are successfully fused.

Havighurst Robert J. “The School and Juvenile Delinquency,” School Review, LII (February, 1945), 72–73.

This article advocates extending school services to cover more of the waking hours of boys and girls who do not have adequate parental supervision; difficulties in the way of this kind of program are recognized and constructive suggestions made.

Hendry Charles E. “The Contribution of Group Work to Case Work with Delinquents,” Dealing with Delinquency, pp. 193–206. Yearbook of the National Probation Association, 1940. New York: The Association, 1940.

Presents the point of view that “the absorption of the delinquent into the framework of normal play groups within recreational agencies has not been successful” and that delinquency represents behavior which is “purposeful, meaningful, and rational for the delinquent.”

Hymes James L. Jr. “A Pound of Prevention: How Teachers Can Meet the Emotional Needs of Young Children.” New York: Caroline Zachry Institute, 1947.

This is a most practical manual describing how the teacher may promote the emotional and social growth of young children. Teachers must do several things: They must want to help children; they must believe that children want to do the right thing; they must find opportunities to know these children informally and “behind the scenes.” Teachers must be patient, allow each child plenty of time for growth, refrain from blaming him, and refrain from taking his misbehavior personally.

Lippitt Ronald . “From Domination to Leadership,” Journal of the National Association of Deans of Women, VI (June, 1943), 147–52.

Methods of adult leadership training should include observation of groups, dicussion, role-playing, analysis of one's biases and responses.

Murray Henrt A. “Time for a Positive Morality,” Survey Graphic, XXXVI (March, 1947), 195–96, 214–16.

Emphasizes the need for a creative moral goal, a “widely shared, well-defined, and inviting” positive ideal.

Slavson S. R. and Others. “Activity Group Therapy with a Delinquent Dull Boy of Eleven,” Nervous Child, IV (April, 1945), 274–90.

A description of the process of reorientation through group therapy.

Strang Ruth . Group Activities in College and Secondary School. New York: Harper & Bros., 1946 (revised).

Chapter i presents a modern view of the nature and values of group activities; chapter x describes, in more detail than is possible in this chapter, sociometry group discussion, and other methods of work with groups.

Whyte William Foote . Street Corner Society: The Social Structure of an Italian Slum. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1943.

A report on the “social structure of an Italian slum,” written by a person who participated in the life of the community for three and a half years; it is valuable to teachers in that it shows methods of studying leadership, some good and some bad, and the interaction of personalities in community groups.

Zander Alvin . “Training Volunteer Leaders for Youth Groups,” Journal of Educational Sociology, XVII (March, 1944), 406–10.

A person of long experience in leadership training describes the common faults of leaders’ training courses: too much time spent in lectures, inflexibility of predetermined course, no opportunity to transfer verbal information into actual group-leadership situations, no criticism of volunteers’ group leadership, no guidance in improving, no practice in analyzing forces at play in unusual group situations.