Material deprivation and the aggressive child : a study of emotionally disturbed children from the City of Halifax seen at the Halifax Mental Health Clinic for Children during the calendar year 1960

Abstract

This thesis forms part of a group research project that was undertaken by the second year students of the Maritime School of Social Work. The project is based on a study of a group of 213 children who were seen at the Halifax Mental Clinic for Children during the calendar year of 1960. A schedule was used by the group to collect the data from the case records of the Clinic. Each student removed from the data the information which was pertinent to his or her individual thesis. This particular thesis is one of four that were concerned with material deprivation and the aggressive child. The study dealt with 77 emotionally disturbed children from the City of Halifax. An analysis of the 77 cases indicated that most of the acting out, aggressive, destructive children were reared in the low income homes, while the majority of children from the higher income homes showed other diagnoses. Furthermore, it was found that more boys than girls had an aggressive type of behavior. Conclusions were drawn from the findings and recommendations were made, especially to those who are concerned with the welfare of children, along with those dealing with the prevention of mental illness, delinquency and crime.