Social Maturity among Juvenile Delinquent and Non-Delinquent Children

Children need to attain social development to be recognized as socially acceptable members. Social development is attaining of maturity in social relationships. Social development is a stage wise development. With respect to each stage the desirable traits and characteristics should be achieved and children, who achieve them are known as socially mature children. Due to several environmental factors some children exhibit anti-social behavior. Delinquency is defined as an act by a juvenile under the age of 18years that if committed by an adult would constitute a crime, a disorderly persons offense or a violation of any other penal statute, ordinance or regulation. Social maturity is the process of appropriate attitudes for personal, interpersonal and social adequacies of an individual which are essential for functioning effectively in the society. The present study was conducted to assess social maturity among juvenile delinquent and non- delinquentchildren. The study sample were 95 delinquent children (66 Girls and 29 Boys) selected from Government observation home for girls the same for and boys and105 non- delinquent children (60 Girls and 45 Boys) selected randomly from normal school setting. Social Maturity Scale (NaliniRao, 2011) was used to collect the data. The results revealed that the Juvenile Delinquent children scored less is social maturity than Non-Delinquent children.