Antisocial cognition and crime continuity: Cognitive mediation of the past crime-future crime relationship

ObjectivesThe purpose of this study was to assess whether antisocial cognition is capable of mediating the well-documented relationship between past and future criminality.MethodsData for this study came from 812 members of the four-wave National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Antisocial cognition was measured with nine self-report items reflecting a thrill-seeking, manipulative, callous, deceptive, and rule-breaking attitude. The predictor variable (delinquency), outcome variable (crime), and four observed confounding covariates (low self-control, delinquent peers, maternal attachment, and intelligence) were also measured via self-report.ResultsCausal mediation analysis revealed that antisocial cognition, assessed during wave 3 of the Add Health study, partially mediated the relationship between delinquency at wave 2 and criminality at wave 4. This mediational effect was moderately robust to potential pre-treatment confounds from constructs central to four major criminological theories (low self-control, delinquent peers, maternal attachment, and intelligence) and to unobserved confounds from three demographic variables (age, gender, and race).ConclusionsThese results suggest that antisocial cognition is both a cause and effect of antisocial behavior. Consequently, antisocial cognition is not only an important dynamic risk/needs factor, but should also be addressed in programs designed to ameliorate current criminality and prevent future antisocial behavior.

► Data from 812 members of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health ► Criminality and antisocial cognition measured with self-report items ► Antisocial cognition capable of mediating the past crime-future crime relationship ► Mediational effect robust to pre-treatment effects of four criminological theories