The Longitudinal Relations Between Religiosity, Moral Disengagement, and Offending in Serious Adolescent Offenders

• In Event: The Military, Religion, and the Life Course

Abstract

Much prior research has found that religiosity is negatively related to crime (Johnson, 2011). Still, less is known about the cognitive processes that govern this relationship, especially among offending populations. One theory that can offer more insight into the religiosity/crime nexus is moral disengagement (MD). The theory, developed by Bandura (2002), follows that people will justify or excuse their deviant behavior by utilizing different cognitive mechanisms in order to counter the negative emotions that result from engaging in deviant behavior. No research has addressed how the theory can explain the relationship between religion and crime. Additionally, less is known about how these relationships change over time. This study uses data from the Pathways to Desistance to assess how religiosity changes from mid-adolescence into early adulthood among serious adolescent offenders. Additionally, the study addresses if religiosity is associated with longitudinal change in MD and offending and whether these relationships are modified by different demographic measures (i.e., sex and race/ethnicity).

Author

• Stephanie Michelle Cardwell, University of Queensland