Delinquent Generations in New Zealand

Abstract

Application of Wilkins' "delinquent generations" hypothesis to New Zealand Children's Court statistics for 1947-60 suggests that, as theorized, social disturbances associated with the Second World War (1939-1945) had affected certain cohorts of children born during or just before it, in such a way as to render them more likely than other children to appear before the Children's Court later in life. An independent method of analysis, based on the theory of normalization of variables with large means, leads to the same conclusion. It further shows that the results are highly significant in the sense of statistical theory. The hypothesis put forward by Wilkins, which has survived tests in England and Wales, Scotland, Denmark, and now New Zealand, is clearly a contribution of some importance to the understanding of international trends in delinquency.

Statistical Methods in Psychiatric Research

“…Related to the question of parental loss by death is that of absence during war service. A good deal of interest has recently been aroused in the "delinquent generations theory" (Wilkins, 1960; for references see Slater et al, 1966). This is the theory that children born just before or during the Second World War were more likely to become delinquents than other children.…”