Citation

Loureiro RJ, Kataoka FT, Viola TW, Vargas GI, Sanvicente-Vieira B, Grassi-Oliveira R, Kluwe-Schiavon B. Trends in psychiatry and psychotherapy 2021; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2021, Associação de Psiquiatria do Rio Grande do Sul)

DOI

10.47626/2237-6089-2020-0155

PMID

34758266

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Delinquent behaviors are risky behaviors that increase during puberty and reach the highest peak in late adolescence. It has been proposed that poor decision-making and theory of mind (ToM) are key cognitive processes implicated with delinquency during adolescence, affecting the valuation of risks and lack of social norms appreciation, respectively. Nevertheless, it is not clear yet whether adolescent offenders who are at provisional deprivation of liberty due to conflict with the law (ACL) might, in fact, present a specific profile in these cognitive processes.

OBJECTIVE: To assess deliberative decision-making and ToM among adolescents with and without conflict with the law.

METHOD: :The sample comprised 62 participants: ACL (n=29) and a control group (CG; n=33). ToM was assessed with the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test and decision-making was assessed with the Columbia Card Task. Additionally, substance use, callous-unemotional traits, childhood maltreatment and IQ, were assessed.

RESULTS: ACL had more ToM errors for negative mental states in comparison to CG, but not for error rates concerning neutral and positive mental states. With regards to decision-making, our results suggest that ACL group did not vary their behavior based on the available information and that the risk information has an opposite effect in the number of cards (risk-taking behavior) when compared to CG.

CONCLUSION: These findings have important implications for the development of interventions for these adolescents, suggesting that they tend to learn little from negative outcomes while have reduced capacity to process negative emotions.

Language: en

Keywords

risk taking; delinquency; criminality; decision-making; social cognition