[Adolescent dyssocial behavior and lack of a father figure during the latency period]

The Authors, taking Andry's hypothesis about the pathogenetic role of the deprivation of father-image during infancy in structuring an inadequate, too rigid or incoherent Super-Ego, assume that could be a possible factor in explaining the social misadaptation of adolescents with prolonged experiences of institutionalisation. The test group, consisted of 163 adolescents and pre-adolescents released from three state institutions in Modena, in the period 1966-1973, it seems to confirm, through the indexes of the socialisation in the family, scholastic and work groups after releases from the institutions, as well as through those of social misadaptation and antisociality, the Author's hypothesis interpreting the social misadaptation as one of the manifestations of the difficulties encountered by adolescents in the adaptation process. These difficulties depend a great deal on a surplus of pathological defenses arising from retarding of the consolidation of the Ego and from developing a negative Ego-Ideal. The deprivation of valid parental images for introjective identifications during latency or adolescence seems a very important factor in influencing these structures of personality.