The Incidence and Correlates of Smoking among Delinquent Boys Committed for Residential Training

Among 441 bays committed to approved schools, the proportions admitting to be smokers ranged from about 33 per cent at ages 10 and 11 to 91 per cent at age 16. At all ages for which comparison could be made, the proportion of smokers among the approved school boys was higher than among State schoolboys interviewed by the Government Social Survey, but it was at the younger ages that approved school boys seemed to be particularly at risk. In addition, smokers among the approved school boys seemed to smoke muck more heavily than those at State schools. No relationships were found for the approved school population between amount smoked and variables of intelligence, educational attainment, delinquency involvement, personality (as measured by Cattell's H.S.P.Q.), social class, home circumstances, and family relationships and discipline, beyond a weak correlation at the age of 16 between smoking and number of court appearances. It was suggested that farther research on smoking among delinquent boys should concentrate on their life‐style and value‐systems.