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Early Attachment and Narcissistic Entitlement: Tracing the Roots of Adolescent Proactive Criminal Thinking

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Abstract

Purpose

The principal objective of this study was to determine whether insecure attachment leads to narcissistic entitlement/proactive criminal thinking versus cognitive impulsivity/reactive criminal thinking. It was predicted that insecure attachment would predict narcissistic entitlement but not cognitive impulsivity and that this effect would be mediated by peer delinquency.

Methods

Participants were 1700 (868 boys, 832 girls) members of the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study. Child-mother attachment was assessed with a Q-sort completed by the child’s mother when the child was 3 years old. Attachment sorts were organized into a latent factor score and correlated with measures of adolescent-reported narcissistic entitlement and cognitive impulsivity at age 15.

Results

Findings from a linear regression analysis revealed that insecure attachment at age 3 predicted narcissistic entitlement but not cognitive impulsivity at age 15, controlling for the effects of race, gender, household income, family structure, maternal bonding, peer delinquency, and participant delinquency. A second analysis showed that maternal ratings of peer delinquency when the child was 9 years old mediated the relationship between age 3 insecure attachment and age 15 narcissistic entitlement.

Conclusions

The current results suggest that insecure attachment is directly and indirectly (via delinquent peer associations) linked to narcissistic entitlement, a facet of proactive criminal thinking.

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  1. Department of Criminal Justice, Kutztown University, Kutztown, PA, 19530-0730, USA

    Glenn D. Walters

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Walters, G.D. Early Attachment and Narcissistic Entitlement: Tracing the Roots of Adolescent Proactive Criminal Thinking. J Dev Life Course Criminology 5, 266–285 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-019-00117-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40865-019-00117-4

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