Neutralization, Moral Disengagement, and Delinquency in Adolescence: Testing the Reciprocal Effects of Proactive Criminal Thinking and Guilt on Future Offending

Abstract

The objective of this study was to determine the direction of the relationship between proactive criminal thinking (PCT) and guilt in models of delinquency development. Toward this end, PCT and guilt were cross-lagged at the second and third waves of the longitudinal Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) study and correlated with delinquency at Wave 4. Participants were 1759 early adolescent boys and girls (mean age = 12.11 years) from the GREAT sample with complete data on at least three of the five main variables included in this study. The results of a path analysis revealed that PCT and guilt formed reciprocal connections and that both paths were meaningfully linked to future offending and prior peer relations. These findings suggest that one way PCT increases the likelihood of future offending is by deactivating guilt and one way feelings of guilt decrease the likelihood of future offending is by counteracting PCT.

Keywords:

• Neutralization
• moral disengagement
• proactive criminal thinking
• peer delinquency
• friend prosocial involvement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Glenn D. Walters, PhD, is a Professor of Criminal Justice at Kutztown University in Kutztown, Pennsylvania where he teaches classes in corrections, criminology, substance abuse and crime, and research methods. Prior to teaching at Kutztown, he spent 27 years working as a clinical psychologist in the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Dr. Walters’ current research interests include criminal thinking, offender change, and moderation and mediation analysis.