title: Not my fault: blame externalization is the psychopathic feature most associated with pathological delinquency among confined delinquents.
abstract: The association between psychopathy and crime is established, but the specific components of the personality disorders that most contribute to crime are largely unknown. Drawing on data from 723 confined delinquents in Missouri, the present study delved into the eight subscales of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Short Form to empirically assess the specific aspects of the disorder that are most responsible for explaining variation in career delinquency. Blame externalization emerged as the strongest predictor of career delinquency in ordinary least squares regression, logistic regression, and t-test models. Fearlessness and carefree nonplanfulness were also significant in all models. Other features of psychopathy, such as stress immunity, social potency, and coldheartedness were weakly and inconsistently predictive of career delinquency. Implications of these findings for the study of psychopathy and delinquent careers are discussed in this article.
authors.affiliation: Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA delisi@iastate.edu.
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: DeLisi
authors.affiliation: Iowa State University, Ames, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Alexia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Angton
authors.affiliation: Saint Louis University, St Louis, MO, USA.
authors.forename: Michael G
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Vaughn
authors.affiliation: University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA.
authors.forename: Chad R
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Trulson
authors.affiliation: California State University, Chico, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Jonathan W
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Caudill
authors.affiliation: Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL, USA King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: Kevin M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Beaver
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology*; D002648:Child; D000066479:Criminal Behavior; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology*; D008923:Missouri; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011329:Prisoners / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence* / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: blame externalization; chronic offending; delinquent career; personality; psychopathy