Neighborhood effects and deviant behavior: The influence of individual differences

• In Event: 295 - Regular Session. Violence

Abstract

Recent research focuses on identifying factors related to serious juvenile offending. One such factor, exposure to violence (ETV), emerges as a key and stable predictor of violent crime. However, not all youth offenders who experience ETV go on to chronic involvement in violence. Consequently, it is possible that individual differences, such as psychopathic traits, also a strong predictor of violence, may mediate the link between ETV and chronic violent offending. Using data from Pathways to Desistance, a multisite, longitudinal study of serious juvenile offenders, the present study (N=1,170) examines the role of psychopathic traits in mediating the relationship between ETV and violent offending. Respondents with stable high trajectories of ETV reported more instances of violent offending. Furthermore, psychopathic traits partially mediated the relationship between ETV and violent offending. Given the stability of psychopathic traits and their importance for understanding the influence of ETV on violent offending, prevention and intervention strategies must be developed that take into account both biopsychological and environmental factors.

Authors

• Deborah Baskin, Loyola University-Chicago

• Ira Sommers, Loyola University-Chicago