The relative contribution of psychopathy and traditional risk factors in predicting young offender recidivism.
Date
2004
Authors
Campbell, Mary Ann.
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Dalhousie University
Abstract
Description
Psychopathic traits have been identified in children and adolescents (e.g., Forth, Hart & Hare, 1990; Frick, O'Brien, Wooton, & McBurnett, 1994), but their relevance to adolescent offenders and their risk of recidivism is less clear. In this investigation, the self-report data and correctional files of 226 male and female adolescent offenders were reviewed to evaluate the construct and predictive validity of psychopathy in adolescents and to develop a comprehensive risk-need scale for adolescent offenders. In this sample, only 9.4% were identified as having a high level of psychopathic traits (≥25 on an 18-item version of the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version, PCL-YV; Forth, Kosson & Hare, 2003). A unidimensional model best accounted for the variance in PCL-YV scores. Consistent with past research, higher PCL-YV scores were positively associated with most self-report measures of behaviour problems (attention difficulties, delinquency, aggression) and not with measures of anxiety or depression. PCL-YV scores were positively associated with a higher number of past technical violations of community releases, but not with the number of past non-violent offences. PCL-YV scores also were moderately predictive of future technical violations of community releases during a 4-year post-release follow-up period, but were not predictive of violent or non-violent recidivism. Based on the risk-need scale developed with the current sample, factors representing family dynamics, negative treatment indictors, and antisocial behavior were relevant to the prediction of re-offending during the follow-up period. Collectively, these results contribute to the understanding and measurement of psychopathy in its earlier stages and provide meaningful information about the assessment of risk and criminogenic needs in adolescent offenders.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2004.
Thesis (Ph.D.)--Dalhousie University (Canada), 2004.
Keywords
Psychology, Behavioral., Psychology, Clinical., Sociology, Criminology and Penology.