Coping with Problems: Attitudes Toward Children Who Set Fires
CAROLYN N. WINGET M.A.1, and
ROY M. WHITMAN M.D.2
1 Research Associate, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
2 Professor, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine
As part of an environmental health survey, 300 urban adults were asked how they would deal with a child who set fires. Respondents who were young, of upper socioeconomic status, and with numerous interpersonal relationships and low degrees of alienation most frequently gave positive-constructive responses indicating the use of outside resources. However, only about one-third specified mental health professionals. The authors discuss the implications of these findings in terms of improved orientation of representatives of the official community as well as in decentralized and more easily accessible mental health centers.
