The Relationship Between Self-Esteem, Gender, Criminal Attitudes, and Recidivism in a Youth Justice Sample

Abstract

The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model deems criminal attitudes a high-priority criminogenic target for both genders while self-esteem is considered noncriminogenic, hence low priority. In contrast, self-esteem is afforded greater priority among gender-responsive researchers, while the construct of criminal attitudes is afforded lesser priority. We examined whether self-esteem and gender moderated the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among 300 justice-involved youth (200 males, 100 females). Contrary to the hypothesis, high self-esteem (≥72.15th percentile) magnified the relationship between criminal attitudes (Pride in Delinquency Scale) and recidivism in females only; self-esteem levels evidenced no impact on the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among males. Results suggest that prioritizing self-esteem as a treatment target among justice-involved female youth without simultaneously considering whether or not pride in criminal conduct is also present may inadvertently increase reoffending. Implications for exploring whether high self-esteem may in reality represent falsely inflated self-esteem are discussed.

A Mixed Method Exploration of Gender, Self-Esteem, Narcissistic Traits, and Aggression in a Youth Justice Sample

“…Further, scholars such as Wormith (1984) have demonstrated that when high self-esteem exists alongside criminal attitudes the probability of criminal behaviour occurring increases. In an attempt to replicate the Wormith study, Thapa et al (2021) also found that high self-esteem was related to recidivism alongside the presence of high criminal attitudes, but only among girls. Recently it has been suggested that current self-esteem measures, such as the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES, Rosenberg, 1965) may be erroneously detecting narcissism instead of genuinely high self-esteem (Rosenthal et al, 2020).…”

“…Further, it has been suggested that some self-esteem measures may be erroneously detecting related but distinctly different constructs such as narcissism (e.g., Salmivalli, 2001). The findings revealed in the Thapa et al (2021) study leave scholars questioning whether high self-esteem really is correlated with higher rates of recidivism, or whether there may be other confounding variables at play, such as narcissism. It is possible that the girls in the Thapa et al study evidenced genuinely high self-esteem.…”

“…Replication is thus required before firm conclusions and hence, strong policy recommendations can be made. Should a significant relationship emerge between self-esteem and narcissism, it could possibly help explain the surprising findings found by Thapa et al (2021) indicating that the girls with the highest self-esteem (when coupled with high criminal attitudes) demonstrated the highest recidivism rates. It is also important to underscore that our study retrospectively rather than prospectively coded the interviews for narcissistic traits.…”

“…A subsequent study conducted by Thapa et al (2021) analyzed the relationship between self-esteem, criminal attitudes, and recidivism rates in a sample of justice-impacted youth ( n boys = 200, n girls = 100). Criminal attitudes predicted recidivism in both genders.…”

Preliminary Adaptation of Criminal Attitudes to Violence Scale in Latvian and Russian

“…When implementing projects aimed at the rehabilitation and resocialization of violent offenders, it is necessary to research and analyse violence-related attitudes from the viewpoint of violent offenders that mostly are males (out of nine penitentiary institutions in Latvia, only one is for female prisoners). Assessment of criminal attitudes is one of the key components (alongside other psychological factors such as self-esteem) in programs and interventions aimed at reducing recidivism (Thapa, Brown, Skilling, 2020). To provide this assessment, valid measurement methods are needed.…”