This study aimed to assess fire-setting behaviors within a child welfare sample. The youth were divided into four groups based on their fire-setting behavior (e.g., no incidents, one incident, multiple minor incidents, and multiple severe incidents). Groups were compared based on five factors: overt antisocial behavior, covert antisocial behavior, global adjustment, psychiatric history, and learning deficits. Fire setters displayed more delinquent behavior and had more extensive psychiatric histories than non-fire-setting youth. Further, the youth with multiple serious incidents of fire-setting behavior displayed more delinquent behavior and had more extensive psychiatric histories than any of the fire-setting groups. These findings clearly suggest that fire setters, as a group, are not homogeneous with respect to antisocial behavior or psychiatric impairment and that gravity of fire setting increased as a function of greater psychopathology and greater delinquency when compared to their peers.

这项研究旨在评估儿童福利样本中的着火行为。根据他们的着火行为（例如，无事故，一个事故，多个轻微事故和多个严重事故），将青年分为四类。根据五个因素对各组进行了比较：明显的反社会行为，秘密的反社会行为，整体适应，精神病史和学习缺陷。与不放火的年轻人相比，起火的人表现出更多的违法行为，并拥有更广泛的精神病史。此外，发生多次严重失火行为的年轻人比失火人群表现出更多的犯罪行为和更广泛的精神病史。这些发现清楚地表明，以火为生的一群人，