Traumatic brain injury, temperament, and violence in incarcerated youth: a mediation analysis based on Delisi and Vaughn’s theory of temperament and antisocial behavior

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

Elbert³

2019

Self Cite

Popular in the field of developmental psychopathology, multifinality means that an initial condition or status can manifest in diverse outcomes across life. Using a near population of federal correctional clients selected from the Midwestern United States, the current study examined the association of chronic delinquent offender status on assorted life outcomes at midlife (average age of offenders was nearly 44 years). Although just 16% of the current offenders were formerly chronic delinquents, they accounted for 13.9% of current employment, 54.6% of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) cases, 54% of those at the 90th percentile for arrest charges, 45.8% of those at the 90th percentile for assaultive arrest charges, 53% of gang activity, 43.8% of lifetime traumatic brain injury, and 22.9% of lifetime mental illness. Logistic regression models indicated that former chronic delinquency was associated with 41% reduced odds of employment, 897% increased odds of ASPD, 81% increased odds of 90th percentile offending, 82% increased odds of 90th percentile assaultive offending, 144% increased odds of gang activity, 115% increased odds of traumatic brain injury, and 141% increased odds of lifetime mental illness. Former chronic delinquency has more consistent predictive validity among males than females and among Whites than African Americans. Multifinality is a useful concept to understand the developmental course of chronic delinquency and assess noncriminal yet nevertheless socially and societally burdensome outcomes.

mentioning

confidence: 99%

What Becomes of Chronic Juvenile Delinquents? Multifinality at Midlife

Drury¹,

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

Elbert³

2019

Self Cite

“…All items were exploratory factor analyzed and inspection of Eigenvalues showed clear evidence of a single factor (Eigenvalue = 5.20 with no other Eigenvalue factors > 1). Higher scores on the temperament measure indicate temperamental features characterized by low effortful control and/or greater negative emotionality, which research has shown to have significant associations with antisocial behavior [53][54][55][56].…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Code of the Street Fights Back! Significant Associations with Arrest, Delinquency, and Violence Withstand Psychological Confounds

Burgason

Heirigs

et al. 2020

IJERPH

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Since Anderson’s now classic, Code of the Street: Decency, Violence, and the Moral Life of the Inner City, an increasing number of researchers have found a significant association between the code of the street and antisocial behavior. Less researched, however, is the relationship between the code of the street and cognate psychological factors. Building on the hypothesis that the code of the street is simply a reflection of elements of the population who exhibit antisocial traits, our aim in this study is to empirically test whether the observed association between the code of the street and antisocial behavior can withstand psychological confounds among a sample of institutionalized juvenile delinquents. Negative binomial regression models show that the code of the street remained a significant predictor of antisocial behavior despite the specification of psychopathy and temperamental traits and other controls. Moreover, as theorized, differential effects were found for African American delinquents compared to non-African American delinquents. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

“…Temperament pertains to the physiological and psychological bases for the typical and consistent ways that an individual behaves, self-regulates, and interacts with environmental stimuli. A general criminological theory (DeLisi & Vaughn, 2014) posits that temperaments typified by low effortful control and high negative emotionality, especially anger and hostility, cause pervasive self-regulation and conduct problems (see, Baglivio et al, 2016; Veeh et al, 2018; Wolff et al, 2016) that would a priori contribute to the dark figure of delinquency. Indeed, the conceptual precepts of the theories provide a mechanism for understanding why youth with greater psychopathology would not only commit more delinquency, but also more often get away with it.…”

Section: Current Aimmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Dark Figure of Delinquency:New Evidence and Its Underlying Psychopathology

Minkler

Bonner

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

et al. 2022

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Although research on the dark figure of delinquency has produced valuable quantitative estimates of its size, prior research is mechanistic and atheoretical about the conceptual underpinnings of the crimes that go undetected by the juvenile justice system. Drawing on data from 253 adjudicated youth in residential placements in the Midwestern United States, the current study found that youth self-reported over 25 delinquent offenses for every one police contact. The dark figure of delinquency has a wide distribution with some youth reporting upwards of 290 delinquent offenses per police contact or arrest. Youth who exhibited more psychopathic features, who displayed temperamental profiles characterized by low effortful control and high negative emotionality, males, and those who were older had larger dark figures of delinquency. Findings provide support for general criminological theories that invoke psychopathy or temperament as important individual-level drivers of delinquent conduct, much of which never results in juvenile justice system intervention and thus never achieves legal resolution.