1. Self-awareness
Fig. 7-4-2-1 shows the annual changes (juvenile delinquents) in answers to the major questions concerning self-awareness and the answers of juvenile delinquents/young offenders by history of protective measures.
The annual changes in the answers of juvenile delinquents are first examined. The percentage of those that answered “yes” (total of “yes, on many occasions” and “sometimes yes”; hereinafter the same in this section) to “I feel that I am working hard on something” concerning satisfaction and making the effort rose until 2005, but declined by approximately10 points from the previous survey to 59.8% in this survey. In contrast to this, the percentages of those that answered “yes” to “I feel that I am viewed as a bad person” (52.8% in this survey) concerning a negative self-image and to “I feel that I don’t have many heartwarming experiences” (37.0% (id.)) concerning a sense of alienation have both been on a declining trend. With all the juvenile delinquent’s self-awareness, negative feelings were deemed to have been generally disappearing, although around 40% were still considered to be without a sense of fulfillment from life.
Examining the juvenile delinquents by their history of protective measures then revealed that with those with a history of commitment to a juvenile training school the percentage of those that answered “yes” to “I feel that I am working hard on something” was approximately 10 points higher than with all juvenile delinquents, whereas the percentages of those that answered “yes" to “I feel that I am viewed as a bad person” and to “I feel that I don’t have many heartwarming experiences” were approximately 5 points higher than with all juvenile delinquents.
In contrast to this, with young offenders the percentage of those that answered “yes” to “I feel that I am working hard on something” was approximately 5 points higher at 65.0% than with juvenile delinquents, while by age group the percentage was 58.4% with those younger than 25 and 71.8% with those aged 25 or older, thus indicating a significant difference in the percentage between the different age groups, and with the percentage being lower with those younger than 25. In addition, similar to juvenile delinquents, almost half (47.4%) of the young offenders answered “yes” to “I feel that I am viewed as a bad person.” Furthermore, more than half (51.8%, approximately 15 points higher than juvenile delinquents) answered “yes” to “I feel that I don’t have many heartwarming experiences,” thus indicating more young offenders have a sense of being alienated than juvenile delinquents.
Fig. 7-4-2-1 Self-awareness
