ABSTRACT

Although facial emotion recognition has been identified as a potential factor influencing life-course-persistent delinquency, the mechanism underlying this relationship remains largely unknown. In this study, we explored two key variables—social bonds and self-control—as parallel mediators in the relationship between facial emotion recognition and general delinquency. An integrated design was employed using the models of social selection and social causation in criminology and the theory of attachment and conceptually parallel theories and research in psychology. The data came from a three-wave nationally representative longitudinal study of 1,423 children and adolescents carried out in the U.S. As expected, faces expressing anger and happiness were associated with general delinquency over 5 years, and both social bonds and self-control significantly mediated the associations. The accurate recognition of anger cues increased engagement in delinquent behavior by lowering both social bonds and self-control levels. In turn, the increased recognition of happy cues reduced delinquent behavior by enhancing both social bonds and self-control levels. Findings underscore the importance of identifying mediating pathways between facial emotion recognition and delinquency and suggest that these pathways are a potential target for behavioral intervention.

摘要

尽管面部情绪识别已被确定为影响生命过程持续性犯罪的潜在因素，但这种关系背后的机制仍然很大程度上未知。在这项研究中，我们探讨了两个关键变量——社会纽带和自我控制——作为面部情绪识别与一般犯罪之间关系的平行中介。使用犯罪学中的社会选择和社会因果关系模型以及依恋理论和概念上平行的心理学理论和研究，采用了综合设计。数据来自在美国对 1,423 名儿童和青少年进行的三波全国代表性纵向研究 正如预期的那样，表达愤怒和快乐的面孔与 5 年以上的一般犯罪有关，社会纽带和自我控制都显着调节了这些关联。对愤怒线索的准确识别通过降低社会纽带和自我控制水平来增加对犯罪行为的参与。反过来，对快乐线索的更多认识通过增强社会纽带和自我控制水平来减少犯罪行为。研究结果强调了识别面部情绪识别和犯罪之间的中介途径的重要性，并表明这些途径是行为干预的潜在目标。