Do Self-Reported Psychopathic Traits Moderate the Relations Between Delinquent History Predictors and Recidivism Outcomes in Juvenile Delinquents?

• Author: Pedro Pechorro,Matt DeLisi,João Marôco,Mário R. Simões
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15412040221100831
• Published date: 01 October 2022
• Date: 01 October 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice

2022, Vol. 20(4) 312–328

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/15412040221100831

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Do Self-Reported Psychopathic

Traits Moderate the Relations

Between Delinquent History

Predictors and Recidivism

Outcomes in Juvenile

Delinquents?

Pedro Pechorro

1,2

, Matt DeLisi

3

, João Mar ˆ

oco

4

, and

M´

ario R. Simões

1

Abstract

The present study investigates whether self-reported psychopathic traits moderate the rela-

tionships between delinquent career features (i.e., age of f‌irst detention in a juvenile detention

center, crime frequency, crime diversity, crime charges, and Conduct Disorder) and 1-year

general delinquency and violent delinquency recidivism outcomes. The sample was compose d of

male youth (N= 214, M= 16.4 years, SD = 1.3 years) originating from the juvenile detention

centers managed by the Ministry of Justice of Portugal. Results mostly suggest that neither the

Antisocial Process Screening Device––Self-Report total score nor its Callous-Unemotional,

Impulsivity, and Narcissism factor scores moderate the relationships between the delinquent

career variables and general and violent delinquency recidivism outcomes. The notable exception

was the interaction between crime frequency and callous-unemotional traits in predicting general

recidivism. The current f‌indings question the relevance of self-reported psychopathic traits as

moderators of recidivism among juveniles despite the general association between psycho pathy

and conduct problems among youth.

Keywords

juvenile delinquency, psychopathic traits, moderation, recidivism

1

CINEICC. PsyAssessmentLab, Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Coimbra, University of Coimbra, Coimbra,

Portugal

2

School of Criminology, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

3

Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA

4

William James Centre for Research, ISPA––Instituto Universit´

ario, Lisbon, Portugal

Corresponding Author:

Pedro Pechorro, Faculdade de Psicologia da Universidade de Coimbra, University of Coimbra, Coimbra, Portugal.

Email: ppechorro@gmail.com

Introduction

Psychopathy is among the most consistent predictors of diverse forms of antisocial behavior,

juvenile delinquency, violence, and recidivism among youth. Conceptualized as a suite of

personality features, psychopathy is characterized by emotional def‌icits, callousness, impulsivity,

interpersonal manipulation, narcissism, hedonistic lifestyle, and self-regulation def‌icits. Some

scholars suggest that the association between psychopathy and antisocial/delinquent conduct is so

robust that psychopathy is implicated in general theories and conceptual models of antisocial

behavior spanning the social sciences (e.g., Andrade, 2008;DeLisi, 2009,2016;Hare, 1999;

McCord & McCord, 1956). Its empirical association with delinquency is also well-established.

For instance, meta-analytic research of 87 studies using 74 independent samples, and 358 effect

sizes (Geerlings et al., 2020) and of 53 studies using 60 independent samples with more than

10,000 participants (Asscher et al., 2011) similarly found that psychopathic features were sig-

nif‌icantly associated with delinquency, violent delinquency, general recidivism, or violent re-

cidivism after justice system contact.

Due to its association with diverse forms of conduct problems, several studies of adjudicated

youth examined whether youth with greater psychopathic features also had more severe delin-

quent careers evidenced by earlier onset of conduct problems, earlier onset of justice system

intervention, more police contacts, greater referrals and adjudications, and more frequent diverse

out-of-home placements to residential facilities, detention centers, or conf‌inement facil ities.

Diverse studies using samples of youth from Canada (McCuish et al., 2015), China (Wang et al.,

2021), the Netherlands (Sijtsema et al., 2019), Portugal, (Pechorro et al., in press), the United

Kingdom (Farrington & Bergstrøm, 2022), and the United States (Baglivio et al., 2020;Neo &

Kimonis, 2021;Vaughn et al., 2008) substantiate that youth who exhibit greater psychopathic

features have more extensive offending histories and follow a more challenging developmental

course. In short, multiple studies using data from multiple nations indicate that higher psy-

chopathic features generally portend more serious and severe delinquent careers.

The evidence is less clearfor psychopathy and recidivism among youthinvolved in the juvenile

justice system. Despite studies reporting signif‌icant linkages between juvenile psychopathy and

recidivism outcomes (e.g., Stockdale et al., 2010) including meta-analytic research (Edens et al.,

2007), multiple researchers employing diverse data sources of adjudicated youth reported asso-

ciations between psychopathy and recidivism outcomes that were variously null, contingent on

model specif‌ication, or, when signif‌icant, modest in effect size(see, Boccaccini et al., 2007;Colins

et al., 2012a;Douglaset al., 2008;Edens & Cahill, 2007). For instance,a study of male delinquents

recruited from a juvenile detention centerfound that psychopathy as measured by thePsychopathy

Checklist Youth Version (PCL: YV) had classif‌ication accuracy for general reconviction, felony

reconviction, and violent reconviction at levels that were at or below chance (AUC values ∼.46 to

.51). Additional research indicates that psychopathy has limited predictive validity for recidivism

among females(Colins et al., 2017;Schmidt et al., 2006;Vince nt et al ., 2008 )and limited predictive

validity among diverse types of recidivism outcomes (Edens et al., 2007;Schmidt et al., 2006).

The variegated interrelation between psychopathy, delinquent careers, and recidivism suggests

moderation effects, but thus far prior research on whether psychopathy moderates conduct

problems among youth is also generally mixed and has implicated multiple variables (e.g.,

Boduszek et al., 2016;Kerr et al., 2012;Muñoz et al., 2008;Silva & Stattin, 2016). Longitudinal

research found that psychopathic features moderated the effects of peer inf‌luences on delinquency

whereby less psychopathic youth were more heavily inf‌luenced by their peers, but highly

psychopathic youth intensif‌ied antisocial conduct among their peers. Moreover, highly psy-

chopathic youth were generally impervious to the conduct of their peers suggesting they are the

antisocial leaders explaining peer effects in delinquency (Kerr et al., 2012).

Pechorro et al. 313