A Mixed Method Exploration of Gender, Self-Esteem, Narcissistic Traits, and Aggression in a Youth Justice Sample

• Published date: 01 December 2023
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/15570851231199767
• Author: Genevieve Brook,Shreena Thapa,Shelley Brown
• Date: 01 December 2023
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

Feminist Criminology

2023, Vol. 18(5) 490–513

© The Author(s) 2023

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DOI: 10.1177/15570851231199767

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A Mixed Method Exploration

of Gender, Self-Esteem,

Narcissistic Traits, and

Aggression in a Youth Justice

Sample

Genevieve Brook

1

, Shreena Thapa

1

, and Shelley Brown

1

Abstract

The relationship between gender, self-esteem, narcissistic traits, and aggression was

evaluated in a sample of justice-impacted youth (JIY). Forty-two audio-recorded in-

terviews (n= 21 boys; n= 21 girls) with equal representation of low, moderate, and

high self-esteem scoring JIY were selected. Narcissistic features could be reliably coded

retrospectively; common features included: arrogance, interpersonal exploitation, and

lack of empathy or shame. No gender differences emerged in feature frequency or type.

Correlational analyses revealed that narcissistic traits were signif‌icantly correlated with

self-report measures of aggression; only girls evidenced this relationship. A potential

gendered relationship between narcissistic features and aggression merits further

investigation.

Keywords

Narcissism, self-esteem, aggression, gender

1

Department of Psychology, Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada

Corresponding Author:

Genevieve Brook, Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel by Drive, Ottawa, ON

K1S 5B6, Canada.

Email: genevievebrook@cmail.carleton.ca

Introduction

Scholars have been researching delinquent and criminal behaviour for well over a

century. However, these constructs have traditionally been studied in boys and men

rather than in girls and women (Brown & Gelsthorpe, 2022;Hubbard & Pratt, 2002).

Nevertheless, it is imperative to determine whether traditional measures used in

correctional settings encapsulated within the Risk-Need-Responsivity rehabilitation

framework originally proposed by Andrews et al. (1990) are relevant for justice-

impacted girls and women, as the rate at which girls and women are encountering the

criminal justice system has signif‌icantly increased since the year 2000 (Blanchette &

Brown, 2019). We acknowledge that gender is a socially constructed term that captures

social expectations about gender role conformity, whereas sex solely connotates bi-

ological differences. Throughout this article we use the term gender, rather than sex.

Further, when our study was conducted, we did not measure gender diversity; thus, our

manuscript treats gender as a dichotomy.

Gender Neutral versus Gender Responsive Models of

Correctional Rehabilitation

While gender-neutral models of correctional rehabilitation have demonstrated em-

pirical validity (e.g., the Risk-Need-Responsivity rehabilitation framework originally

proposed by Andrews et al., 1990), research suggests that these models may insuf-

f‌iciently underscore the importance of hypothesized gender responsive needs. Con-

sequently, the high prevalence of gender responsive needs (e.g., mental health, trauma

related to past experiences of abuse, parental stress) experienced by justice-impacted

girls and women may ultimately go unaddressed. For justice-impacted girls in par-

ticular, self-esteem may be a need that merits more attention as many justice-impacted

girls evidence low self-esteem (Hubbard & Pratt, 2002;Van Voorhis et al., 2010) which

in turn may impact their ability to meet educational goals, form prosocial friendships,

and develop prosocial skillsets necessary to live law abiding lifestyles.

To explore the potential impact of needs that may be specif‌ic to girls/women that

were not included in the original RNR model (Andrews et al., 1990), Van Voorhis et al.

(2010) assessed multiple samples of justice-impacted women at various points during

the correctional process (i.e., pre-release, probation, and prison). The authors used a

supplementary measure comprised of various gender-responsive items such as self-

esteem, adverse childhood experiences, and adult victimization. An examination of

recidivism rates at a f‌ixed, 24-month follow-up period supported the value of sup-

plementing a gender-neutral risk tool with gender-responsive items. Overall, the results

demonstrate the value of using gender-responsive items to supplement current gender-

neutral tools; however, the value of each item differed depending on the point in the

correctional process. Moreover, the results were mixed regarding self-esteem (e.g., self-

esteem was signif‌icantly negatively associated with recidivism in the probation sample,

but it was not consistently associated with misconducts in the prison sample).

Brook et al. 491