I think Wertham professional peers would clinically define the fundamental methodological error as impossibly wacky.
On the subject of causative factors, comics were lovingly embraced by our troops and the american public in general, and provided an escape from the daily turmoils of the time. The mythical correlation of comics to juvenile delinquency was a phony scheme cooked up by meddling authoritarian adults and religious zealots, to explain their own failures to connect with children and provide a healthy influence. The same type of scheme was used to describe any person that had anything to do with a motorcycle as a juvenile delinquent/Hells Angel in the 50s/60s. Harley Davidson and Triumph had the last laugh on that subject.