An Examination of the Association Between Callous‐Unemotional Traits, Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement and Offending Behaviour Among a Sample of Young Serious Offenders

ABSTRACT

Background

Research has shown that young people with elevated callous-unemotional traits are also likely to be morally disengaged and may justify their offending behaviour. Moral disengagement may, thus, explain the cognitive processes leading to their offending. Moral disengagement, however, is a multifaceted construct, and research has yet to examine the role of its distinct components in the callous-unemotional traits/offending pathway.

Aims

This study aims to explore associations between callous-unemotional traits and components of moral disengagement in young offenders by testing a mediation model to determine whether the effect of callous-unemotional traits on delinquency operates through each element of moral disengagement.

Methods

Data were from an existing longitudinal study of 1124 14–18-year-old serious offenders—the US-based Pathways to Desistance Study. In this study, callous-unemotional traits were measured using the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, and elements of moral disengagement were measured using the Mechanisms of Moral Disengagement scale. Callous-unemotional traits, the mechanisms of moral disengagement and self-reported offending behaviours were measured consecutively at 6-month intervals. Longitudinal mediation analysis was conducted to determine whether each specific element of moral disengagement mediated any association between callous-unemotional traits and self-reported delinquency.

Results

Bivariate analysis and comparison of correlation coefficients confirmed that callous-unemotional traits were associated with serious delinquency and also with elements of moral judgement and euphemistic language. Longitudinal mediation analyses suggested that all but two (diffusion of responsibility and displacement of responsibility) elements of moral disengagement individually and collectively mediated the relationship between callous-unemotional traits and delinquency; the higher the callous-unemotional trait score, the higher also was moral disengagement, in turn, associated with more delinquency.

Conclusion

The findings replicate prior research suggesting that a key mechanism in the link between callous-unemotional traits and delinquency lies in moral disengagement but go further in specifying the components of moral disengagement likely to be most relevant. This has implications for more accurately targeted interventions for reducing reoffending among young people with elevated callous-unemotional traits and possibly also for the primary prevention of offending by them. Specifically, interventions aimed at supporting change in thought processes around moral engagement among young people with elevated callous-unemotional traits may be as important for reducing the risk of offending as helping those young people to recognise emotions in others and respond more appropriately.