Personality Profile of Children in Conflict with the Law in Manipur

Description

Pampak Khumukcham¹ and Nutankumar S. Thingujam² (Department of Psychology, Tripura University, Tripura¹ and Department of Clinical Psychology, Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS), Imphal²)

Juvenile delinquency is a growing concern, as delinquent problems can lead to future criminal acts. With the increased involvement of juveniles in crime, understanding their personality traits is essential for effective rehabilitation, especially in the context of Manipur. This study aimed to compare the personality profiles of children in conflict with the law with those of school-going children in Manipur. In this study, personality dimensions were assessed using three subscales from the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire-Revised (EPQ-R, Eysenck et al., 1985) Extraversion, Neuroticism, and Psychoticism. Additionally, subscales from the Big Five Inventory (John & Srivastava, 1999) namely, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness-were used. A sample of 160 (Children in Conflict with the Law = 80, School-going Children = 80) aged 12 to 18 years was studied. Descriptive statistics and t-tests were used to analyse the data. The results revealed that children in conflict with the law had significantly higher scores in Neuroticism, Psychoticism, Conscientiousness, and Openness. No significant differences were observed in the Extraversion and Agreeableness dimensions of personality. The findings highlight differences in personality patterns between children in conflict with the law and school-going children. Understanding these differences can help in designing focused rehabilitative programs to reduce the chances of offending behaviour.