The roles of trauma exposure, rejection sensitivity, and callous‐unemotional traits in the aggressive behavior of justice‐involved youth: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

Research has demonstrated an association between childhood trauma exposure and adolescent aggression. This association may be explained by rejection sensitivity, defined as anger, or anxiety in the anticipation of rejection, which can be a consequence of trauma exposure. Callous-unemotional (CU) traits also are associated with trauma exposure and aggressive behavior; however, research has not yet investigated the interactive roles that rejection sensitivity and CU traits play in the relation between trauma exposure and aggression. Therefore, this study sought to investigate the role of rejection sensitivity in the association between trauma exposure and aggression, and whether this indirect effect was moderated by CU traits. Participants included 380 detained youth (98 girls, 282 boys) who completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, angry, and anxious rejection sensitivity, CU traits, and aggression. Results of moderated mediation demonstrated that the relation between trauma exposure and aggression exhibited an indirect effect through angry rejection sensitivity, but only at moderate or high levels of CU traits. This pattern was not found for anxious rejection sensitivity. Results suggest that interventions aimed to decrease aggressive behavior in traumatized adolescents may benefit from considering how youth respond to rejection, as well as whether youth endorse CU traits, as this may help to limit further involvement in the juvenile justice system after release.

“Man Up”: Sex‐Differentiated Pathways of Juvenile Delinquency through Trauma, Borderline Traits & Offense Patterns

“…A vast majority of justice-involved youth report experiences of a traumatic event, with nearly 1/3 of these youth meeting criteria for Posttraumtic Stress Disorder (PTSD) (Dierkhising et al, 2013). Documented incidents of childhood abuse, regardless of whether PTSD symptoms are ever present, are related to and contribute to later offending (Mozley et al, 2018). Polyvictimization, multiple and accumulating forms of childhood abuse/trauma, is even a more significant predictor for offending .…”

Beyond Trauma Exposure: Discrimination and Posttraumatic Stress, Internalizing, and Externalizing Problems Among Detained Youth

“…Keywords trauma exposure, racial discrimination, PTSS, internalizing problems, externalizing problems, justice-involved youth Youth involved in the juvenile justice system represent a vulnerable population. Justice-involved youth exhibit heightened rates of posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), internalizing problems (i.e., nonsuicidal self-injury [NSSI], anxiety, and depression), and externalizing problems (i.e., delinquency, physical aggression, risk-taking, and substance use; Becker & Kerig, 2011;Kerig et al, 2009;Mozley et al, 2018). One factor implicated in justice-involved youth's high levels of mental health problems is exposure to traumatic events (Cisler et al, 2012;Hoeve et al, 2015;Kerig et al, 2009).…”

“…For example, in a statewide study, Abram and colleagues (2004) found that 92% of justiceinvolved youth reported experiencing at least one type of traumatic event, with an average of 14 traumatic events. In turn, trauma exposure is a powerful predictor of mental health problems among justiceinvolved youth (Hoeve et al, 2015;Kerig et al, 2009;Mozley et al, 2018), particularly in the form of externalizing problems (see Kerig, 2017). Therefore, the current state of the field emphasizes the detrimental effects of trauma exposure on justice-involved youth's mental health and behavior.…”

The Interplay between Fear Reactivity and Callous–Unemotional Traits Predicting Reactive and Proactive Aggression

“…The effect of fear-induced arousal on the CU-aggression link can offer pathways for more precise and effective prevention and intervention efforts. Unfortunately, we did not explore the role of other psychosocial factors, such as childhood trauma, which could be relevant to our finding on reactive aggression, as trauma exposure is associated with greater threat sensitivity and CU traits [39,60].…”