Abstract
Self-control and psychopathy are prominent general theories of antisociality that, although present a very similar type of individual, have not often been studied in tandem, and few studies have conducted a head-to-head test of their association with serious delinquency and youth violence. Using a near census of institutionalized delinquents from Missouri, the current study found that both low self-control and psychopathy were significantly associated with various forms of delinquency and severe/chronic delinquency as measured by 90th percentile on the distribution. However, low self-control was associated with more forms of delinquency, and victimization and youth with the lowest levels of self-control were at greatest risk for pathological delinquency relative to those with the most psychopathic personality. Both self-control and psychopathy are essential for understanding the most severe variants of delinquency, and more head-to-head tests are encouraged to assess the strength of criminological theories.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 53-76 |
Number of pages | 24 |
Journal | Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2018 Jan 1 |
Bibliographical note
Publisher Copyright:© 2016, © The Author(s) 2016.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Health(social science)
- Developmental and Educational Psychology
- Law