Mediating the Worst of Both Worlds Effect with Facets of Criminal Thought Process: Moral Neutralization, Cognitive Impulsivity, and Their Interaction

ABSTRACT

The Worst of Both Worlds (WBW) hypothesis holds that prior offending and substance use in combination is significantly more likely to lead to antisocial behavior than either prior offending or prior substance use alone. In an effort to better understand the mechanisms behind the WBW effect, we performed a causal mediation analysis in which moral neutralization and cognitive impulsivity served as mediators of the WBW-delinquency relationship in a group of 845 (406 boys, 439 girls) early adolescents. We then tested the indirect effect for each pathway using longitudinal data and bias-corrected bootstrapped confidence intervals. Results showed that moral neutralization, but not cognitive impulsivity or the neutralization x impulsivity interaction, mediated the relationship between WBW and delinquency. These findings indicate that moral neutralization may play a salient role in the WBW effect by linking offending-substance comorbidity to future antisocial behavior. There is a need for additional research, however, to ascertain how and why comorbid criminal offending and substance use/abuse link specifically to moral neutralization, whereas there appears to be no connection between crime-substance comorbidity and cognitive impulsivity.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

¹ After removing moral neutralization-2, cognitive insensitivity-2, and their precursors from the analysis, the total indirect effect rose to significance (Z = 3.17, p < .01, β = .18, 95% BCBCI = 0.468, 2.081), although it fell back into non-significance when delinquency-1 was added to the equation as a covariate (Z = 0.10, p = .917, β = .01, 95% BCBCI = −1.511, 1.641).

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Kutztown University Foundation Kutztown Research Committee.

Notes on contributors

Glenn D. Walters

Glenn D. Walters, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania where he teaches classes in criminology, corrections, and drugs and crime. Prior to this, he worked 27 years as a clinical psychologist in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. His current research interests include criminal thinking, mediation analysis, and the development of an integrated theory of offending behavior. Dr. Walters’ research has appeared in Criminology, Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Justice Quarterly, and Law and Human Behavior.

Jonathan Kremser

Jonathan Kremser, Ph.D. is professor and chair of criminal justice at Kutztown University. His research interests include school safety, school crime, and security. He teaches courses in security management, loss prevention & asset protection, and criminology. He received his Ph.D. from Rutgers University and publishes widely in the area of school violence and security.

Lindsey Runell

Lindsey L. Runell, J.D., Ph.D. is an associate professor of criminal justice at Kutztown University, where she teaches courses in criminal justice, criminal law, evidence, and policy, punishment, and society. She holds a Ph.D. in criminal justice from Rutgers University and a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. Dr. Runell’s scholarly research has appeared in the International Journal of Bullying Prevention, Journal of Aggressive Behavior, Journal of Social Work, and The Prison Journal, among others.