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Medical histories of delinquent and nondelinquent children: an epidemiological study

Published Online:https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.134.9.1020

The authors studies the hospital records of 109 delinquent children and a matched comparison group of 109 nondelinquent children. The number, reasons for, and timing of hospital contacts significantly differentiated the delinquent from the nondelinquent children; perinatal difficulties did not. The authors hypothesize that an interaction of developmental factors and parental inadequacies accounts for the clustering of hospital contacts before age 4 and between ages 14 and 16 in the delinquent sample. They discuss the implications of their findings for prevention.

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