The boys in both groups were studying 10th standard in two schools, and the subjects had no serious physical or psychological illnesses. The Jesness Inventory has 155 items encompassed by 11 subscales which measure social maladjustment, value orientation, immaturity, autism, alienation, aggression, withdrawal, social anxiety, regression, denial, and asocialization. The Jesness Inventory significantly distinguished between delinquents and nondelinquents on social maladjustment, value orientation, autism, alienation, manifest aggression, social anxiety, and denial. Social maladjustment is related to poor relationships with peers and poor school performance. Value orientation scores of delinquents reflected a toughness ethic and hostility toward authority figures. Delinquents were immature in their evaluations of their own and others' motivation, and they scored high on autism, which indicates a tendency to distort reality according to one's personal needs and desires. Other traits manifested in delinquents were isolation from others, emotional discomfort in relationships, the repression of normal emotions, and the denial of unpleasant conditions. 1 table and 8 references.