The Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model deems criminal attitudes a high-priority criminogenic target for both genders while self-esteem is considered noncriminogenic, hence low priority. In contrast, self-esteem is afforded greater priority among gender-responsive researchers, while the construct of criminal attitudes is afforded lesser priority. We examined whether self-esteem and gender moderated the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among 300 justice-involved youth (200 males, 100 females). Contrary to the hypothesis, high self-esteem (≥72.15th percentile) magnified the relationship between criminal attitudes (Pride in Delinquency Scale) and recidivism in females only; self-esteem levels evidenced no impact on the relationship between criminal attitudes and recidivism among males. Results suggest that prioritizing self-esteem as a treatment target among justice-involved female youth without simultaneously considering whether or not pride in criminal conduct is also present may inadvertently increase reoffending. Implications for exploring whether high self-esteem may in reality represent falsely inflated self-esteem are discussed.

风险需要响应（RNR）模型将犯罪态度视为男女两性的高犯罪优先目标，而自尊被认为是无犯罪性的，因此低优先权。相比之下，在对性别敏感的研究人员中，自尊被赋予更高的优先权，而对犯罪态度的建构则被给予较低的优先权。我们检查了300名司法正义青年（200名男性，100名女性）中的自尊和性别是否缓和了犯罪态度和累犯之间的关系。与该假设相反，自尊心高（≥72.15％）仅放大了女性的犯罪态度（犯罪倾向量表）与累犯之间的关系；自尊水平对男性的犯罪态度和累犯之间的关系没有影响。结果表明，在不考虑是否还存在对犯罪行为的自豪感的情况下，将自尊作为治疗目标的优先对象是参与司法的女性青年，这可能会无意中增加犯罪率。讨论了探索高自尊在现实中是否可能代表错误夸大的自尊的含义。