The Tennessee Self-Concept Scale was administered to 193 imprisoned male youthful offenders in a southern U.S. State and to 161 male young offenders in an English young offenders institution. The purpose of the study was to determine if the self-concept scores of the subjects differed significantly according to the subject's country, whether the youth resided with one or both parents or separate from either parent at the time of imprisonment, and race. Analyses revealed that: (1) total self-concept scores of both groups were significantly lower than for normal subjects; (2) U.S. offenders' scores were more abnormal than the English, often falling so low as to suggest serious psychopathological conditions; (3) Black subjects in both cultures scored significantly lower than whites: (4) the labeling theory proposition that the stigma of delinquency and subsequent imprisonment with other delinquents exacerbates one's negative self-regard is open to question; (5) cultural influences in both countries, rather than the effects of the stigma of the delinquent label and imprisonment, operate to cause low self-concept long before one becomes involved in the justice system; and (6) delinquent youths from intact families have significantly higher self-concepts than those from fragmented families. References, appendix