Growth in the association between dimensions of antisocial thought process over time and in relation to delinquent involvement: a study of early adolescent youth

ABSTRACT

The goal of this study was to determine whether the relationship between cognitive insensitivity and cognitive impulsivity, two core dimensions of antisocial thought process, grew significantly over a period of two years and whether this growth was more evident in actively delinquent youth. A group of 845 adolescent male and female middle-school students completed measures of cognitive insensitivity and impulsivity at three points in time, with one year between each point or wave. Analyses were conducted using the Fisher r-to-Z transformed Pearson-Filon statistic for comparing nonoverlapping dependent correlations. Analyses showed that the correlation between cognitive insensitivity and cognitive impulsivity increased significantly from Wave 1 to Wave 3. When analyses were performed separately for youth displaying above average and below average delinquency across the three waves, significant increases occurred only in the subgroup with above average delinquency scores and then only between Waves 2 and 3 and then between Waves 1 and 3. These findings suggest that the cognitive insensitivity and impulsivity dimensions of antisocial thought process become increasingly more intertwined as youth move through early adolescence, but only in youth who display regular involvement in delinquency over time.

KEYWORDS:

• Cognitive insensitivity
• cognitive impulsivity
• delinquency
• development

Acknowledgement

The authors would like to thank staff and students at J. T. Lambert Middle School in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, without whom this study would not have been possible.

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, its subject matter, and the age of participants, parents who provided their informed consent and children who provided their informed assent did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, so supporting data is not available.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Kutztown University Research Committee and the Kutztown University Foundation.