The Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Gender, Criminal Attitudes, and Recidivism in a Youth Justice Sample

Date01 April 2021
AuthorShelley L. Brown,Shreena Thapa,Tracey A. Skilling
DOI10.1177/0093854820977577
Published date01 April 2021
Subject MatterArticles
CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 2021, Vol. 48, No. 4, April 2021, 539 –555.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0093854820977577
Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions
© 2020 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology
539
THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SELF-ESTEEM,
GENDER, CRIMINAL ATTITUDES, AND
RECIDIVISM IN A YOUTH JUSTICE SAMPLE
SHREENA THAPA
SHELLEY L. BROWN
Carleton University
TRACEY A. SKILLING
Centre for Addiction and Mental Health & University of Toronto
The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model deems criminal attitudes a high-priority criminogenic target for both genders
while self-esteem is considered noncriminogenic, hence low priority. In contrast, self-esteem is afforded greater priority
among gender-responsive researchers, while the construct of criminal attitudes is afforded lesser priority. We examined
whether self-esteem and gender moderated the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among 300 justice-
involved youth (200 males, 100 females). Contrary to the hypothesis, high self-esteem (72.15th percentile) magnified the
relationship between criminal attitudes (Pride in Delinquency Scale) and recidivism in females only; self-esteem levels evi-
denced no impact on the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among males. Results suggest that prioritiz-
ing self-esteem as a treatment target among justice-involved female youth without simultaneously considering whether or not
pride in criminal conduct is also present may inadvertently increase reoffending. Implications for exploring whether high
self-esteem may in reality represent falsely inflated self-esteem are discussed.
Keywords: recidivism; self-esteem; gender differences; attitudes; youth; criminal behavior
Historically, research pertaining to criminal conduct has predominantly focused on
males. Given that female-perpetrated crime is less prevalent and less serious in com-
parison to male-perpetrated crime, researchers have generally overlooked females (Brown
et al., 2019). However, feminist-driven scholarship, coupled with the influx of females into
the justice system over the last three decades, has propelled justice-involved females to the
forefront of correctional research and policy. For example, the proportion of arrests in the
United States attributed to female youth continues to grow, rising from 20% in 1985, to 30%
in 2015, despite the fact that overall youth-perpetrated crime continues to decline in the
United States (Puzzanchera & Ehrmann, 2018). Notably, the decline in youth arrest rates
AUTHORS’ NOTE: We thank the youth and justice organizations who made this research possible. We dedi-
cate this article to the late Dr. Wormith who served as the inspiration for this study—a treasured friend and
colleague. This research was supported by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
(SSHRC, 410-2009-1020). Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Shreena Thapa,
Department of Psychology, Carleton University, 1125 Colonel By Drive, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1S 5B6;
e-mail: shreena.thapa@carleton.ca.
977577CJBXXX10.1177/0093854820977577Criminal Justice and BehaviorThapa et al. / Self Esteem, Gender, Attitudes
research-article2020
540 CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR
since 2006 has been greater for males (decreased by 71%) than females (decreased by 61%;
Puzzanchera, 2019).
Two key treatment targets have garnered attention in the correctional literature: criminal
attitudes (Bonta & Andrews, 2017) and self-esteem (Van Voorhis, 2012). Self-esteem in the
general psychology literature is defined as a person’s assessment of one’s self-worth, impor-
tance, or value (Robinson et al., 2013). The construct of criminal attitudes encapsulates
attitudes, beliefs, thinking patterns, and rationalizations that are supportive of crime (Bonta
& Andrews, 2017). The relative importance of these constructs in the context of correc-
tional assessment and rehabilitation is debated between scholars who primarily study jus-
tice-involved females, collectively labeled gender-responsive researchers, and mainstream
correctional researchers, collectively labeled gender-neutral researchers. Gender-neutral
researchers have historically focused largely on justice-involved males. Throughout the
manuscript the term female encapsulates adolescent and adult females, and the term male
includes both adolescent and adult males. We also indicate when we are referring specifi-
cally to adults or youth.
In brief, gender-responsive theorists posit that while females may share some risk factors
with their male counterparts, they also possess unique risk factors such as victimization,
parental stress and low self-esteem, which in turn requires female specific interventions that
are trauma-informed and relationally based (Salisbury et al., 2016). Notably, gender-respon-
sive researchers rarely, if ever, identify the construct of criminal attitudes as a core treat-
ment target. Furthermore, gender-responsive scholars have also suggested that self-esteem
may function as a protective factor that buffers the risk of recidivism (Blanchette & Brown,
2006; Bloom et al., 2003; Van Voorhis, 2012). In contrast, gender-neutral theorists posit that
males and females have similar risk factors and will benefit equally from similar interven-
tion strategies (Bonta & Andrews, 2017). Gender-neutral scholars have always identified
the construct of criminal attitudes as a fundamental risk factor in both genders and have
disregarded the importance of general distress variables such as low self-esteem because
they are viewed as noncriminogenic factors (Andrews et al., 2012; Rettinger & Andrews,
2010). However, Bonta and Andrews (2017) recently acknowledged that the relationship
between self-esteem and criminal conduct is complex and requires further investigation.
Consequently, the goal of this study is to understand whether or not self-esteem may moder-
ate the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism as a function of gender in a
youth justice sample.
SELF-ESTEEM/ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR LINK IN THE GENERAL PSYCHOLOGY
LITERATURE
The link between self-esteem and criminal conduct has sparked debate over the years
(Baumeister et al., 2003). One long-established view in the general psychology literature is
that low self-esteem leads to aggression (Adler, 1956; Bushman et al., 2009). In this vein,
Donnellan et al. (2005) explored the link between low self-esteem and externalizing behav-
iors such as delinquency, aggression, and antisocial behavior in a sample of adolescents and
college students from the United States and New Zealand. The first study utilized a cross-
sectional design with 292 youth from two schools in northern California. The researchers
observed a negative correlation between self-esteem and delinquency (r = −.35). However,
the researchers did not examine gender differences. Similarly, as part of the Dunedin

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