High Verbal Intelligence in Juvenile Delinquents: Protective or Risk Factor?
The current study had two aims: (a) to characterize justice-involved youth (JIY) with high verbal intelligence quotient (HVIQ) and (b) to investigate the extent to which HVIQ served as a protective factor for delinquency. This study included 1631 detained youths who received intelligence and academic achievement testing. Important risk factors of delinquency were gender, age at first offense, and race/ethnicity. In addition, associations between academic achievement scores and delinquency were observed. Verbal intelligence was unrelated to delinquency. Findings suggest verbal intelligence may not be a significant differentiator of future behavior for JIY.
Authors
- Diana Quintana
- Elena L. Grigorenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9646-4181)
- Julia Kovalenko (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0125-1816)
- Nan Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6892-9228)
- Jessica L. Garcia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1905-3658)
- Matthew Shelton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3785-5833)
- Shira R. Mattuck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2370-0616)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Youth Justice
- Published
- 2025-02-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1177/14732254251316857
- Primary Topic
- Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development