Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T10:40:27.072Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Conspicuous Firesetting in Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

James G. Strachan
James G. Strachan*
Affiliation:
Royal Edinburgh Hospital, Morningside Place, Edinburgh EH10 5HF, Scotland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The records of 79 children whose firesetting led to referral to a Children's Hearing (the Scottish equivalent of a juvenile court) were examined. All but one of the children were boys. They had very disturbed backgrounds, with much family disruption and absent or unemployed fathers. Firesetting was predominantly a group activity and the damage caused was extensive. Although the children frequently engaged in other offences, in over 90 per cent there was no recurrence of reported firesetting within the limited period of possible follow-up.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 138 , Issue 1 , January 1981 , pp. 26 - 29
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Belloc, H. (1908) Cautionary Tales. London: Eveleigh Nash.Google Scholar
Hoffmann, H. (1845) Struwelpeter. Frankfurt-am-Main: Rutten and Loning.Google Scholar
Kaufman, I. Heins, L. & Reiser, D. (1961) A re-evaluation of the psychodynamics of firesetting. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 31, 123–136.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Macht, L. B. & Mack, J. E. (1968) The firesetter syndrome. Psychiatry, 31, 277–288.Google Scholar
Morris, A. & McIsaac, M. (1979) Juvenile Justice? A Case Study of the Operation of Children's Hearings in Scotland. London: Heinemann.Google Scholar
Nurcombe, B. (1964) Children who set fires. Medical Journal of Australia, 1, 579–584.Google Scholar
Scotsman, The (1978) 1 September. Edinburgh: Scotsman Publications.Google Scholar
Social Work (Scotland) Act (1969) London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Vandersall, T. A. & Wiener, J. M. (1970) Children who set fires. Archives of General Psychiatry, 20, 63–71.Google Scholar
Yarnell, H. (1940) Firesetting in children. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 10, 272–286.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.