Untangling the relationship between child maltreatment and criminal behavior: executive functioning as mediator

Abstract

ABSTRACT There is evidence that childhood maltreatment (CM) is an important risk factor for adult criminal behavior. However, little is known about the cognitive processes mediating this relationship. This study examined the mediating role of executive functioning (EF) on the relationship between CM and history of criminal behavior on a sample of 334 male individuals in custody from Uruguay. Preliminary results showed that CM was significantly associated with past criminal behavior in all multivariate models. The mediation analysis found that behavioral regulation had a significant mediating role while the metacognition and EF total score did not. Finally, the inhibition domain was the strongest mediator. This suggests that CM is an important risk factor that needs to be considered in Uruguay, and addressing behavioral regulation may also help to address some of the long-term consequences of CM and targeting deficits in inhibition could be a potential target for treatment for individuals that commit criminal offenses.