Self-Control Versus Psychopathy: a Head-to-Head Test of General Theories of Antisociality

Self-control and psychopathy are prominent general theories of antisociality that, although present a very similar type of individual, have not often been studied in tandem, and few studies have conducted a head-to-head test of their association with serious delinquency and youth violence. Using a n...

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Bibliographic Details
Authors: DeLisi, Matt (Author) ; Burgason, Kyle (Author) ; Heirigs, Mark (Author) ; Tostlebe, Jennifer (Author) ; Vaughn, Michael G. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
In: Youth violence and juvenile justice
Year: 2018, Volume: 16, Issue: 1, Pages: 53-76
Online Access: Volltext (Resolving-System)
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Keywords:
Delinquents
General Theory
juvenile justice
Psychopathy
Self-control
youth violence
Description
Summary:Self-control and psychopathy are prominent general theories of antisociality that, although present a very similar type of individual, have not often been studied in tandem, and few studies have conducted a head-to-head test of their association with serious delinquency and youth violence. Using a near census of institutionalized delinquents from Missouri, the current study found that both low self-control and psychopathy were significantly associated with various forms of delinquency and severe/chronic delinquency as measured by 90th percentile on the distribution. However, low self-control was associated with more forms of delinquency, and victimization and youth with the lowest levels of self-control were at greatest risk for pathological delinquency relative to those with the most psychopathic personality. Both self-control and psychopathy are essential for understanding the most severe variants of delinquency, and more head-to-head tests are encouraged to assess the strength of criminological theories.
ISSN:1556-9330
DOI:10.1177/1541204016682998