TY - JOUR
T1 - Mapping Conscience
T2 - Network Analysis Into the Differences in Maturation of Offending and Non-Offending Adolescents
AU - de Brauw, Maurits
AU - Popma, Arne
AU - Peen, Jaap
AU - Peters, Carel
AU - Schalkwijk, Frans
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2022.
PY - 2022/12/24
Y1 - 2022/12/24
N2 - Conscience is a diagnostically relevant concept in forensic psychiatry, but often misinterpreted as an all-or-none phenomenon. We conceptualize the conscience as a psychic function in which elements like empathy, self-conscience emotions such as shame, guilt and pride, and moral orientation work together. The differences in conscience functioning can be described in terms of developmental levels of integration. We conducted network analyses on data collected via a questionnaire survey held among 52 offending and 243 non-offending juveniles. We displayed two networks: One representing the non-offenders’ normative and one representing the offenders’ defiantly maturing conscience. As was hypothesized, in the non-offenders network, almost all elements clustered into one clinically meaningful network, indicating integration of the different elements of the normative maturing conscience. In the offenders network, the correlations between the elements were sporadic, indicating a lack of integration of the defiantly maturing conscience. The difference between the two networks was more prominent for empathy and moral orientation than for self-conscious emotions. This research supports the theory of differences in maturation of conscience instead of being an all-or-none phenomenon and calls for further research, taking a deeper look at the significance of integration of the conscience and its implications for offending behaviour.
AB - Conscience is a diagnostically relevant concept in forensic psychiatry, but often misinterpreted as an all-or-none phenomenon. We conceptualize the conscience as a psychic function in which elements like empathy, self-conscience emotions such as shame, guilt and pride, and moral orientation work together. The differences in conscience functioning can be described in terms of developmental levels of integration. We conducted network analyses on data collected via a questionnaire survey held among 52 offending and 243 non-offending juveniles. We displayed two networks: One representing the non-offenders’ normative and one representing the offenders’ defiantly maturing conscience. As was hypothesized, in the non-offenders network, almost all elements clustered into one clinically meaningful network, indicating integration of the different elements of the normative maturing conscience. In the offenders network, the correlations between the elements were sporadic, indicating a lack of integration of the defiantly maturing conscience. The difference between the two networks was more prominent for empathy and moral orientation than for self-conscious emotions. This research supports the theory of differences in maturation of conscience instead of being an all-or-none phenomenon and calls for further research, taking a deeper look at the significance of integration of the conscience and its implications for offending behaviour.
KW - conscience
KW - delinquency
KW - empathy
KW - guilt
KW - moral reasoning
KW - network analysis
KW - shame
UR - https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?partnerID=HzOxMe3b&scp=85145484517&origin=inward
UR - https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36565255
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85145484517&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - https://doi.org/10.1177/006624X221132233
DO - https://doi.org/10.1177/006624X221132233
M3 - Article
C2 - 36565255
SN - 0306-624X
JO - International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
JF - International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology
ER -