Comparing spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and social support in delinquent and normal teenagers

Crime in any way is created following one kind of emotional turmoil through that the person acts to confront or decrease his/her mental pressure. Therefore the aim of this study was to compare the spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and social support between delinquent and normal teenagers of Khoramabad.

Statistical population included all male teenagers imprisoned in correctional institution in Khoramabad (n=21) were selected using census method and equivalent to them, 21 normal teenagers were selected among male high schools of Khoramabad through purpose-based sampling method. Dehshiri et al.’s spiritual well-being questionnaire, Abdolahzadeh et al.’s spiritual intelligence questionnaire and Vax, Filips et al.’s social support questionnaire were used to evaluate variables. Multivariate variance analysis (MANOVA) was used to compare two groups in terms of above-mentioned variables.

The results of the study showed that there was a significant difference between delinquent and normal teenagers' spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and social support.

Regarding the findings of the present study, indicating that the delinquent teenagers have lower spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and social support than normal teenagers; therefore, in consulting activities with delinquent teenagers, it is necessary to work on these people in order to increase their spiritual intelligence, spiritual well-being and social support. Moreover, it is essential to try to improve these three variables with the aim of preventing the delinquency in family and school education.