Juvenile Delinquency *Our fourth article on special problems.—Ed.

an indication of some mental variation in the individual. That delinquency occurs means more than simply something the matter with the individual ; it signifies also some malady of society. There is a tendency among some workers to regard social conditions as embracing the whole causation, but to adopt such a point of view is to be in error. There are nearly always several causal factors, as almost any delinquency points to a problem, both in the individual and in the environment in which he lives. There are many ways in which the psychiatric social worker is able to help in the treatment of delinquent situations and in the prevention of their development ; in fact, her greater opportunity is perhaps in the latter field. All psychiatric social workers in their day-to-day work deal with family situations which may very well lead to delinquency in one or other of the children.