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ARE SOME PEOPLE CRIME‐PRONE? REPLICATIONS OF THE PERSONALITY‐CRIME RELATIONSHIP ACROSS COUNTRIES, GENDERS, RACES, AND METHODS *
Author(s) -
CASPI AVSHALOM,
MOFFITT TERRIE E.,
SILVA PHIL A.,
STOUTHAMERLOEBER MAGDA,
KRUEGER ROBERT F.,
SCHMUTTE PAMELA S.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
criminology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.467
H-Index - 139
eISSN - 1745-9125
pISSN - 0011-1384
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-9125.1994.tb01151.x
Subject(s) - psychology , personality , emotionality , developmental psychology , big five personality traits , juvenile delinquency , race (biology) , impulse (physics) , social psychology , botany , physics , quantum mechanics , biology
We examined the relation between personality traits and crime in two studies. In New Zealand we studied 18‐year‐old males and females from an entire birth cohort. In Pittsburgh we studied an ethnically diverse group of 12‐ and 13‐year‐old boys. In both studies we gathered multiple and independent measures of personality and delinquent involvement. The personality correlates of delinquency were robust in different nations, in different age cohorts, across gender, and across race: greater delinquent participation was associated with a personality configuration characterized by high Negative Emotionality and weak Constraint. We suggest that when Negative Emotionality (the tendency to experience aversive affective states) is accompanied by weak Constraint (difficulty in impulse control), negative emotions may be translated more readily into antisocial acts. We review additional evidence about the developmental origins and consequences of this personality configuration and discuss its implications for theories about antisocial behavior.