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The Relation Between Callous‐Unemotional Traits, Psychosocial Maturity, and Delinquent Behavior Among Justice‐Involved Youth
Author(s) -
Simmons Cortney,
Fine Adam,
Knowles Alissa,
Frick Paul J.,
Steinberg Laurence,
Cauffman Elizabeth
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
child development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.103
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1467-8624
pISSN - 0009-3920
DOI - 10.1111/cdev.13176
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , psychology , psychosocial , maturity (psychological) , developmental psychology , economic justice , trait , big five personality traits , juvenile , conduct disorder , clinical psychology , social psychology , personality , psychiatry , neoclassical economics , biology , computer science , economics , genetics , programming language
Callous‐unemotional (CU) traits are a risk factor for severe and persistent patterns of juvenile delinquency. Given the influence of CU trait assessments in justice‐system settings, it is important to determine whether the predictive utility of CU traits is conditional on the absence of protective psychosocial factors. Employing a sample of justice‐involved male youth ( N = 1,216, M age = 15.29), this study examined whether psychosocial maturity (PSM) outweighs or attenuates the effect of CU traits on delinquency. Results indicated that youth with high CU traits or low PSM offended more during the year following their first arrest. Additionally, PSM moderated the relation between CU traits and offending, such that higher PSM was associated with less offending but only among low CU youth.