Dimensions of antisocial behaviour in juvenile delinquency: A study of personality variables

The discrepancy among operational definitions of delinquency is one of the main causes of the fragmentation in this area of research. In this paper, we defend the need to analyse juvenile delinquency as a multidimensional construct rather than as a dichotomous variable. This approach allows one to identify homogeneous classes of behaviour, to take into account the frequency and seriousness of such behaviour, and to investigate the variables related to each separate class. In this work, the relationship of certain personality variables (sensation seeking, impulsivity, empathy and self-esteem) to various types of self-reported delinquent activity was investigated in two samples of male adolescents, one composed of institutionalized juvenile delinquents and the other drawn from the general population. Our results confirm the relevance of the personality variables considered and support their differential association with offence groups.