Psychopathy, gang membership, and moral disengagement among juvenile offenders
Affiliation
Manchester Metropolitan University ; University of Chester ; University of Huddersfield ; National College of Ireland ; University of HuddersfieldPublication Date
2014-11-10
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Purpose: The aim of the current study was to investigate the impact of psychopathy factors and gang membership on moral disengagement while controlling for age, ethnicity, having run away from home, family member and/or friend arrests, substance misuse, parental physical fights, violence exposure (victimization and witnessing), and maternal warmth and hostility. Design/methodology/approach: The research is based on data collected from serious juvenile offenders (N = 769) as part of the Pathways to Desistance Study. Findings: Six independent variables made a unique statistically significant contribution to the model: gang membership, age, gender, violence exposure, and psychopathy Factors 1 and 2. Psychopathy Factor 1 was the strongest predictor of moral disengagement. Originality/value: Results indicate that youth with heightened psychopathic traits make greater use of strategies to rationalize and justify their harmful behaviour against others. Implications in relation to theory and previous studies are discussed.Citation
Journal of Criminal Psychology, 2015, 5(1), pp. 13-24.Publisher
EmeraldJournal
Journal of Criminal PsychologyType
ArticleLanguage
enDescription
This article is (c) Emerald Group Publishing and permission has been granted for this version to appear here.(http://chesterep.openrepository.com). Emerald does not grant permission for this article to be further copied/distributed or hosted elsewhere without the express permission from Emerald Group Publishing Limited http://dx.doi.org/ISSN
2009-3829ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1108/JCP-11-2014-0016
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