FAMILY-STRUCTURE OF JAPANESE JUVENILE DELINQUENTS - EVIDENCE FROM THERESULTS OF THE DOLL LOCATION TEST

Using Hatta's Doll Location Test, family structures of juvenile delinq uents and non-delinquents were examined. Subjects were asked to presen t their actual and ideal family structures by means of pinning miniatu re dolls, representing family members and other people. Although ideal dyadic relations among family members as envisaged by both groups wer e similar, a discrepancy between actual and ideal family situations wa s revealed in the presentations of the juvenile delinquents. The dyadi c distance between self and parent of the juvenile delinquents in actu al life situation was greater than that of non-delinquents. The direct ions that the dolls representing family members were facing also showe d a discrepancy between ideal and real life situations in juvenile del inquents, whereas no discrepancy was perceived in the non-delinquents' group.