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Neighborhood Disadvantage and Neuropsychological Functioning as Part Mediators of the Race–Antisocial Relationship: A Serial Mediation Model

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Abstract

Objectives

We test a serial multiple mediation model in which the relationship between ethnicity and antisocial behavior is sequentially mediated by disadvantaged neighborhoods and impaired neuropsychological functioning.

Methods

Parental and self-report measures of antisocial behavior were assessed in a community sample of 341 adolescent males and females. Neighborhood disadvantage was assessed from census data. Neuropsychological functioning was evaluated using a computerized battery. Separate serial multiple mediation models were tested using non-executive functioning and executive functioning.

Results

The serial mediation model for executive functioning was supported, with the pathway from race to antisocial behavior through neighborhood disadvantage and executive functioning in serial accounting for 10.8% of the total effect of race on antisocial behavior.

Conclusions

Findings support social neurocriminology theory by integrating neighborhood disadvantage and executive functioning as sequential mediators of the race–antisocial relationship. To our knowledge, these are the first findings to explain the race–antisocial relationship in terms of connected social and neuropsychological processes. While this pathway is significant, the effect is still relatively small and thus should be understood as one of many mechanisms through which race may affect antisocial behavior. From a translational science standpoint, the identification of neurocognitive mechanisms by which neighborhood disadvantage predisposes to antisocial behavior suggests the potential benefits of cognitive enhancement techniques to remediate the negative effects of adverse neighborhoods on brain functioning in at-risk minority groups.

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Acknowledgements

This project was funded, in part, under a grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Health (SAP# 4100043366) and the Clinical and Translational Research Center, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania (Grant No.: UL1-RR-024134). The Department and the University of Pennsylvania specifically disclaim responsibility for any analyses, interpretations or conclusions. The authors bear sole responsibility for the contents of this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Criminology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Rebecca Umbach

  2. Departments of Criminology, Psychiatry, and Psychology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Adrian Raine

  3. Department of Psychiatry, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Ruben C. Gur

  4. School of Criminology and Justice Studies, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Lowell, MA, USA

    Jill Portnoy

Authors
  1. Rebecca Umbach
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  2. Adrian Raine
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  3. Ruben C. Gur
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  4. Jill Portnoy
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca Umbach.

Appendices

Appendix 1

Items for Conduct and Oppositional Defiance Disorder Questionnaire (COD)

Conduct disorder

  • Bullied or threatened someone

  • Started a physical fight

  • Used a weapon to harm someone

  • Been physically cruel to someone

  • Been physically cruel to an animal

  • Stolen or grabbed things from someone

  • Forced someone into a sexual activity

  • Started a fire to damage things

  • Destroyed people’s things

  • Broken into a house, building, or car

  • Lied to get things or favors, or to avoid doing something

  • Stolen things or shoplifted

  • Stayed out at night without permission

  • Ran away from home for a while

  • Stayed off school without permission

Oppositional defiance disorder

  • Lost their temper

  • Argued with adults

  • Refused to follow requests or rules

  • Deliberately annoyed people

  • Blamed others for their own mistakes or bad behavior

  • Been touchy or easily annoyed

  • Been angry or resentful

  • Been spiteful or mean

Appendix 2

See Table 8.

Table 8 Factor loadings based on a principal components analysis for parent-report and child self-report measures of antisocial behavior
Full size table

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Umbach, R., Raine, A., Gur, R.C. et al. Neighborhood Disadvantage and Neuropsychological Functioning as Part Mediators of the Race–Antisocial Relationship: A Serial Mediation Model. J Quant Criminol 34, 481–512 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-017-9343-z

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