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Personality and self-reported delinquency: a longitudinal analysis

P C Heaven1

  • 1Dept of Psychology, University of Wollongong, NSW, Australia.

Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines
|September 1, 1996
PubMed
Summary

This study found that personality traits like psychoticism, extroversion, and low self-esteem were weaker predictors of adolescent delinquency over time than initially hypothesized. These factors explained less than 7% of delinquency variance two years later.

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Area of Science:

  • Psychology
  • Criminology
  • Developmental Psychology

Background:

  • Antisocial and delinquent behaviors are often studied through a trait personality lens.
  • Previous research suggests a link between specific personality traits and delinquency.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To assess the predictive power of personality factors (psychoticism, extroversion, low self-esteem) on self-reported delinquency.
  • To examine how these personality traits relate to delinquency over a two-year period in adolescents.

Main Methods:

  • Longitudinal study design involving 282 fourteen-year-olds.
  • Self-report measures for personality and delinquency at two time points.
  • Structural equation modeling used for data analysis.

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Main Results:

  • Personality variables explained 16.2% of delinquency variance at Time 1 but only 6.61% at Time 2.
  • Psychoticism alone explained 15.3% of delinquency variance at Time 1, decreasing to 4.36% at Time 2.
  • The predictive power of the assessed personality traits on delinquency diminished significantly over the two-year follow-up.

Conclusions:

  • The direct predictive relationship between psychoticism, extroversion, low self-esteem, and long-term adolescent delinquency is less robust than previously assumed.
  • Findings suggest that other factors not assessed in this study may play a more significant role in sustained delinquent behavior.
  • Further research is needed to explore alternative or mediating factors influencing the trajectory of delinquency.