NCJ Number
124598
Journal
International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology Volume: 34 Issue: 1 Dated: (April 1990) Pages: 1-13
Date Published
1990
Length
13 pages
Annotation
The present article examines behavior by integrating two approaches which have heretofore been employed separately -- Eysenck's theory linking delinquency to extraversion and neuroticism and Kohlberg's theory of moral development and its connection to moral behavior.
Abstract
It analyses the relations between extraversion, neuroticism and moral judgement -- as well as their independent and/or interactive effect upon the development of anti-social behavior. The relationships are tested via retrospective measurements of personality traits and moral judgement in three groups: delinquency (N=203), control (N=82) and comparative (N=407) groups. Findings indicate that criminals are higher than control subjects on neuroticism and immoral judgement but not on extraversion. Similar relationships were found between criminals and the comparative group. The implications of these results for the differential development of anti-social behavior is discussed. 3 tables, 25 references. (Author abstract)