Does Future Orientation Moderate the Relationship Between Impulse Control and Offending? Insights From a Sample of Serious Young Offenders

Abstract

Researchers have recently begun to examine motivational factors as moderators of the relationship between self-control and offending behavior. The current study extends prior work by investigating whether three aspects of future orientation (aspirations, expectations, and the use of future-oriented cognitive and behavioral strategies) play such a role. Drawing on 7 years of data from the Pathways to Desistance study (N = 1,333), we use hybrid effects negative binomial regression models to assess how within-individual changes in future orientation and impulse control are independently and jointly related to the offending variety of serious young offenders. Although impulse control and three components of future orientation had significant main effects on offending, no interaction between these components emerged in our results. Implications for future research are discussed.