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Abstract
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OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to determine whether moral disengagement (MD) mediated the relationship between co-offending and future delinquency once age, race, gang affiliation, unsupervised routine activities, and perceived peer delinquency were controlled.
HYPOTHESES: It was predicted that the temporal relationship between co-offending and future offending would be mediated by MD but not by cognitive impulsivity (CI), and that the MD-mediated effect would be significantly stronger than the CI-mediated effect.
METHOD: Participants were 1,162 serious delinquent male youth from the Pathways to Desistance study. A fixed-sample panel longitudinal design was implemented and a path analysis with two parallel mediators (MD and CI) and one dependent variable (delinquency) was performed.
RESULTS: Consistent with predictions, a path analysis determined that MD but not CI mediated the relationship between co-offending and future self-reported delinquency. In addition, the indirect effect for MD was significantly stronger than the indirect effect for CI.
CONCLUSIONS: It is surmised that co-offending may provide youth with the opportunity to observe, model, and learn criminal attitudes and behaviors from other offenders, which then augments MD and sets the stage for a rise in delinquency. Policies and programs designed to disrupt co-offending and reduce MD are discussed in terms of delinquency prevention and desistance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).
Keywords: Juvenile justice
Language: en |