The Role of Psychopathic Traits and Supportive Parental Practices in Long-Term Juvenile Recidivism: a 10-Year Follow-Up

Abstract

Recidivism rates of juvenile delinquents remain high despite numerous intervention efforts. Identifying factors that can predict (long-term) recidivism is therefore an important research issue. Knowledge on why juveniles re-offend is a key to effective interventions as it helps to identify factors most likely to be successful targets in intervention programs. A 10-year follow-up study prospectively examined whether psychopathic traits and supportive parental practices predicted the timing and frequency of recidivism in juvenile delinquents. Participants were 256 adolescents who were referred to treatment for serious antisocial behavior (72.4% male). Participants were between 12 and 18 years old at baseline (M = 15.9 years). Parents reported on juveniles’ psychopathic traits and supportive parental practices at baseline. At 10-year follow-up, the official recidivism data were collected. A substantial number of juveniles (86.3%) had recidivated at 10-year follow-up. Juvenile psychopathic traits and supportive parental practices did not incrementally predict the timing or frequency of recidivism over time over and beyond the static control variables gender and prior offenses. The present study confirms previous work suggesting that static risk factors gender and prior offenses are strongest predictors of recidivism.