De relatie tussen psychopathie en jeugddelinquentie in verschillende subgroepen.

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate whether there is a relationship between psychopathy and juvenile delinquency. Previous research has shown that there is a relationship between psychopathy and delinquency among adults, but little is known about this relationship among youth. A Pearson correlation analysis was conducted in order to investigate whether psychopathy was associated with juvenile delinquency. Furthermore, this study focuses on the influence of ethnicity and gender on the relationship between psychopathy and juvenile delinquency for which two ANOVAs were conducted. The sample contained N = 227 participants living in the Netherlands between 12 and 18 years old who qualified for Multi System Therapy. The results showed that a higher level of psychopathy was associated with a higher level of juvenile delinquency. However, there appeared to be no moderation effects of ethnicity and gender on this relationship. It was concluded that psychopathy is an important risk factor in predicting juvenile delinquency. It remains unclear which moderators lead to a different relationship between psychopathy and juvenile delinquency. Future research is recommended in order to create a better understanding of psychopathy as a predictor of juvenile delinquency.