In an attempt to explain the inconsistent findings and overall weak relation between empathy and aggression, we focused on the role of emotional empathy (emotions of concern, compassion or sympathy toward a (potential) victim), agentic goals (the desire to be dominant during social interaction with peers) and their interplay (mediation or moderation) in the prediction of proactive aggression (learned instrumental behavior) in adolescence. Data were collected from 550 young Dutch adolescents, who filled out multiple questionnaires. Findings showed that the link between a lack of empathic concern and proactive aggression is partly mediated and moderated by agentic goals. The moderation analyses showed that the predictive value of a lack of empathic concern with regard to proactive aggression was greater when adolescents reported a stronger desire to be dominant in social situations with peers. In addition, the findings supported the assumption that the relation between empathic concern and reactive aggression (a hostile and angry response to perceived provocation) is not mediated or moderated by agentic goals. Findings were discussed in terms of their implications for future research. Aggr. Behav. 43:204-214, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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Early-onset offending is generally recognized as a risk factor for persistent criminal behavior. However, variation in long-term delinquent development among early-onset offenders remains rather underexplored and poorly understood. We, therefore, used multitrajectory modeling to identify distinct subgroups of early-onset offenders ( n = 708) based on the frequency of offending across several types of offenses up to age 25. We used multinomial regression analysis to characterize subgroups on gender, ethnicity, and childhood neighborhood characteristics. Six offender subgroups could be distinguished in our data: nonrecidivists (51%), sporadic recidivists (25%), and low-rate (8%), moderate-rate (10%), high-rate adult-peaked (3%), and high-rate adolescence-peaked recidivists (3%). Males, minorities, and children from disadvantaged neighborhoods were more likely to follow re-offending trajectories characterized by increased levels of property crime, vandalism, and violent and sexual offenses. Findings are discussed in relation to criminological theory, and recommendations are made for future life-course criminological research.