MORAL DISENGAGEMENT IN ADJUDICATED JUVENILES: THE ROLE OF SELF-CONTROL AND SOCIAL LEARNING

The purpose of this study is to replicate and extend prior research by Dhingra et al. on factors affecting moral disengagement in adjudicated juveniles. After replicating prior research, I then examine additional theoretical factors in the causes of moral disengagement, specifically the effects of social learning and self-control. I also extend prior cross-sectional research by analyzing longitudinal data. Data for this paper comes from the Pathways to Desistance study, a multisite study of over 1300 adjudicated juveniles. Exact replication of the prior Dhingra study was not possible, but similar results were obtained. The additional regressions then added measures indexing self-control and association with delinquent peers, both of which were found to be predictive of moral disengagement in juveniles. Next, a longitudinal regression analysis was run to address the issue of causal order using the first and second waves of Pathways data. The results show that past moral disengagement was predictive of future moral disengagement in the study sample. Further, the longitudinal results do not provide any evidence that moral disengagement develops in juveniles in response to social factors, contrary to the conclusions of the Dhingra study. Rather, the findings suggest that moral disengagement during adolescence is driven instead by Factor 1 psychopathy, in addition to prior levels of moral disengagement. These longitudinal findings are important because they call into question the role of social factors and suggest that interventions designed to disrupt moral disengagement may benefit from an increased focus on the treatment of early psychopathy.