Page:1954 Juvenile Delinquency Testimony.pdf/175

Rh him. But in this sense the comic hooks are in the same class with liquor, popular fiction, mavies, fairy tules, newspapers, and other muss media. All of these things are used as escape mechanisms and it is only in the extreme that sneh practices are polentially dangerous. As for the gruesomeness and herror, we cannot condemn fhe comics in this respect without questioning the contents of children's stories ant fairy tales of all sorts. A number of authors have pointed out the amount of terror and yiolence conlained in the tales of Tlans Christian Anderson, Grimm, or even Wali Disney, There is a difference, however, iu that these fairy slories are cleurly fubles and not reality, while the stories in the connie beoks are ofteu placed in contemporary settings with real people. As one author has put it, the comic hooks differ iu presenting their story in a very familiar world.

To return more directiy to the issue at hand, I should lke fo present. several xeucral statements of opinion together with a brief discussion of euch, A partial list of references is appended,

1. Although comic hooks linve been the subject of many published articles in popwar journias, there hus been no incisive reseurch on the topie. <A [ew investi- gators have stndied the relationships between comic book reading habits of children and other factors such us I. Q. school achievement, delinqueucy, ete, But these studies have been limited in scope and, in general, fail to provide us with insight into the dynamics of the problem, Hoult (16) for example, reports a study of 235 children aged 10–17 in which tt was found that "delinquents' aud nandelingnents read about the same number of 'harmless' comic hooks, but dlelingnents read many more 'questionable' or 'harmful' comics." Heisler (14) fonnd no significant relationship hetween the reading of comic books aud such factors us rendiug ability, achievement in English, yocabulary, intelligence, per- sonality, or the size of the home library. Malter (17) analyzed the contents of 155 comic magazines and discovered that about one-third of all comic story pages is devoted te humor and an eyual amount is devoted to crime. Strang {23) interviewed 2 sample of childven in grades 1–12 and found no lasting detrimental effect of interest iit comics upon rending habits. Mauy of the okler adolescents felt that they had outgrown this type of material, In fact, comies ofleu served as 4 transition stimulus to more mature reading.

From this brief summary of some studies in this topic area it can be seen that research has bren concerned with seginental aspects of the problem, The ap- proach is characteristically a correlitionnt one which, of course, does not permit inferences us to cause and effect relationships. In part, the paucity of resenrch on this topic is a function ef methodological diffienlties inherent in the subject matter, For, allhough the manifestations of juvenile dchinquency appear snd- dently and spontaneously, the determining or casunl [aetors are of long standing. Clenrly, jnvenile delinquency is a developmental problem and beeanse of this, traly incisive rescurch can only be conducted on « longitudinal busis in which the subjects of the investigation are examined periodically over a span of several years. This type of research is beyond the means of individual investigators and reqtires some sort of tustitulional suppert.

Summing up this section, it seems apparent that research is sorely needed in this problem. If we are to understand the impact of the horror comics npon the behavior of normal and emotionally disturbed children, we must initiale a broad pregram of research and provide nieans for its support, It seems iumperetive, hosyever, that this research be placed in a broad context, one in which the infla- ence of comic books is but ane aspect of # larger program which has as its objec tive the determination of the multiple causes of javenile delinquency.

2. In view of the many factors which influence the behavior of children, it Acems wnlikely thet any single factor such os the reading of comic books could be the major determinant of behavior, In this connection it is sometimes helpful to distinguish between predisposing und precipitating factors in considering the eauses af behavior, In other words, there are a great number of experiences and relationships which influence the behavior of a child; his relations wilh his par- cnis and siblings, the socioeconontic stutns of the family, housive conditions, membership) in peer groups, school achievement, emotional adjustment. All of these forces, nnd many others, interact within the individual and presumably influence delinyuent behavior. JTlaced alongside these inthiences, the comic books seem vather insignificant except as they might provide a trigger funetion for behuvier, Té all of the predisposing factors make a child "ready" for certain types of nonsocial actions, an idea derived from eomie books may be the catalyst which proyides impetus lo the behavior. This, of conrse, is high speculation on which there is very little empirical evidence.