Moral emotion attributions and personality traits as long-term predictors of antisocial conduct in early adulthood

Abstract

The study investigated long-term relations between moral emotion attributions in childhood and adolescence and antisocial conduct in early adulthood while taking into account potentially confounding personality factors. Specifically, onset of prediction, unique and indirect effects of moral emotion attributions were examined. In a longitudinal study of 143 children (67 females), measures of moral emotion attributions, conscientiousness and agreeableness were obtained at the ages of 4–7, 11–12, 18 and 23 years. Antisocial conduct was assessed at the age of 23 years. Moral emotion attributions predicted antisocial behavior not before late adolescence. This effect was independent of conscientiousness and agreeableness. Moreover, moral emotion attributions indirectly contributed to the prediction of antisocial conduct by predicting change in conscientiousness. Overall, findings suggest that the emotions adolescents anticipate in the context of (im)moral actions contribute to development of antisocial conduct independently of personality traits.