What personality traits predict abstention from juvenile delinquency?

Whereas the vast majority of people engage in some form of delinquency during their lives, only a small percentage of adolescents completely abstain from delinquency (Brezina & Piquero, 2007; Piquero, Brezina, & Turner, 2005). Abstainers seem to be non-normative and therefore deserve scientific scrutiny. Studying the characteristics of abstainers may aid the development of prevention programs (Piquero et al., 2005). The aim of this study was to examine what personality traits predict abstention from juvenile delinquency and what abstention means in terms of adult outcome. Participants were 940 adolescents enrolled in the Dutch CONAMORE study (age 12 to 16; 50% female). Delinquency was measured using a 16-item self-report questionnaire, whereas personality was measured using the 30-item Big Five questionnaire. A series of (logistic) regression analyses were utilized. Results show that abstainers are more likely to be agreeable, conscientious and female, and less likely to be extraverted, open to experience and male. Emotional stability has no significant effect. Furthermore, abstention does not appear to be related to depression at 21 years, but does relate positively to social phobia at 21 years, explaining an additional 0.6% of variance. These findings show that abstainers may not be rejected because of unattractive traits, but (positive) traits that can be perceived as negative by their delinquent peers (Piquero et al., 2005). Further research shows the importance of the traits conscientiousness and agreeableness when drawing up prevention programs, as they seem to predict both abstention and positive life outcome