男性少年玩火與放火行為關連性的探討

An Investigation of the Relationship Between Fireplay and Firesetting Behavior Among Male Juveniles

研究目的：「偏差行為是否有從輕微漸近至嚴重的歷程」在學理上具重要性，但現今很少有研究去直接的探討或檢證它。本研究即嘗試以玩火與放火行為關連的探討，對上述議題進行初探。背後的假定即是：放火行為常由輕微的玩火行為開始。研究方法：本研究針對917位犯罪少年及141位一般少年，進行無記名自陳式問卷調查。測量變項包括：最近一年內玩火及放火次數、影響玩放火行為的學習、功能、抑制、與特質等各項因素。研究結果：本研究發現，最近一年少年玩火次數與放火行為之間具有顯著關連性、玩火次數可有效預測放火次數、玩火少年在學習、功能、抑制、與特質各有關變項上的得分均介於非火（未玩火且未放火）與放火少年之間。上述結果顯示：玩火與放火行為兩者應並非獨立，而具有顯著關連性。研究結論：放火行為可能由玩火行為開始。就此歷程的內涵而言，可能經歷技巧成熟、膽量逐漸放大、合理化的說詞更為鞏固等歷程。就偏差行為防治的意涵而言，偏差行為應從初露徵兆時即應開始著手防治與處遇。

Purpose: Children and juveniles' firepaly behavior causes considerable damage in almost every society. For example, according to the statistics of Department of Fire Prevention of United States that Children's fireplay behavior causes sixty-five thousand fires in the year of 1997, and two hundred and eighty four people's death, two thousand and one hundred fifty eight peoples' injury, two hundred and eighty millions U.S. dollars' property damage. The above statistics do not include fires not reported yet. It is estimated that the fires not reported are three times as much of fires reported. At the same time, the prevalence of firepaly behavior is also pretty high. According to the survey of Kolko, Day, Bridge & Kazdin (2001) that community children's fireplay rate is 42.8% and inpatient children's fireplay rate is 63.3%. However, the damage caused and the prevalence are both high for fireplay behavior, it is not investigated intensively in Taiwan. Searching of ''The Doctoral and Master's Thesis Information Net of Taiwan'' and the authorized research cases of Department of Fire Prevention of Ministry of Interior, we do not find a single paper addressing fireplay behavior. The related institutes of government and the civility do not take this problem seriously as well. In view of the above facts, the present study investigates the juveniles' fireplay behavior. Due to the domain of fireplay behavior is broad, the present study focuses on the relationship between fireplay and firesetting behavior. The main reason is that the following assumption is important theoretically: severe deviant behavior usually starts from minor deviant behavior. That is, severe deviant behavior may undergo a progressive process. The hypothesis of the present study is that firesetting behavior (severe deviant behavior) usually starts from fireplay behavior (minor deviant behavior). That is, we attempt to test the above assumption by investigating the relationship between fireplay and firesetting behavior. Methods: The present study includes two parts of subjects. One is delinquent male juveniles who are from Taiwan's Reformatory Schools. The other is normal male juveniles who are selected from junior and senior high schools' students of Taipei and Hua-Lian. The effective sample size of delinquent and normal male juveniles is 917 and 141 respectively. Regarding the research tool, anonymous self-report questionnaire is adopted to collect data. The variables measured include: frequency of firepaly and firesetting behavior in one year; juveniles who play fire, setting fire, or do not play and setting fire (that is, no-fire group); the variables influencing fireplay and firesetting behavior that include learning, functional, containment, and trait factors. It is hypothesized that the frequency of firepaly and firesetting behavior in one year is significantly related, the fireplay behavior could effectively predict the frequency of firesetting behavior, and the scores of fireplay juveniles on learning, functional, containment, and trait factors were consistently higher than no-fire juveniles and lower than firesetting juveniles. The scales measuring learning, functional, containment, and trait factors are shown to possess sufficient reliability and content validity. Results: It is found that there is significant relationship between one-year fireplay frequency and firesetting behavior, the frequency of firesetting behavior can be effectively predicted by fireplay behavior, and the scores of fireplay juveniles on learning, functional, containment, and trait factors are consistently higher than no-fire juveniles and lower than firesetting juveniles. The above results indicate that fireplay and firesetting behavior are significantly associated. Conclusions: The present study shows that firesetting behavior is significantly associated with fireplay behavior. It is suggested that firesetting behavior may start from fireplay behavior. This means that severe deviant (firesetting) behavior may start from minor deviant (fireplay) behavior. The processes may undergo maturation of skill, magnification of courage, and consolidation of rationalization. However, it is hard to conclude that severe deviant behavior starts from minor deviant behavior from one single study. It is suggested that more researches targeting various deviant behaviors, under different conditions, are done to justify the above hypothesis. The implication of the finding is that prevention of severe deviant behavior (e.g., firesetting behavior) should start from prevention of minor deviant behavior (e.g., fireplay behavior). The following issues are also discussed in the present article: possible reasons for firesetting behavior which may start from fireplay behavior, the general and specific definition of fireplay behavior, and the employment of longitudinal study to differentiate the occurring sequence of fireplay and firesetting behavior.