Citation

Palmer EJ, Hollin CR. Leg. Crim. Psychol. 2000; 5(2): 201-218.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, British Psychological Society, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1348/135532500168092

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Purpose. This study considers the relationships between moral reasoning, perceptions of parenting, attribution of intent, and self-reported delinquency among young male offenders and non-offenders. Methods. A sample of 97 convicted male young offenders and 77 male non-offenders were assessed using the Sociomoral Reflection Measure-Short Form, the EMBU (a measure of own perceptions of parenting), a measure of Attribution of Intent, and a self-reported delinquency checklist. Results. Analyses revealed that offenders had significantly less mature moral reasoning than non-offenders, and perceived their fathers as more rejecting. They also exhibited a greater hostile attributional bias than non-offenders. Correlational analyses revealed that perceived parenting was related to attribution of intent in both samples. There were also significant relationships between moral reasoning and attribution of intent among the non-offenders. Perceived parental rejection and emotional warmth, moral reasoning and attribution of intent were significantly related to levels of self-reported delinquency among the offenders. For the non-offenders, self-reported delinquency was related to attribution of intent. The most significant predictors of self-report delinquency scores were age, perceived paternal emotional warmth, and incorrect attribution of hostility among offenders and incorrect attribution of hostility for male non-offenders. Conclusions. The findings suggest that theories of delinquency need to account for the complex interactions between environmental factors (such as parenting) and social-cognitive processes (such as attribution of intent). Furthermore, by identifying areas in which offenders experience problems, more effective interventions can be developed.

Language: en