Associations Among Trauma Exposure, Posttraumatic Dissociation, Reckless/Self-Destructive Behavior, and Adolescent Offending

Previous research has established that trauma exposure and subsequent posttraumatic stress symptoms confer risk for adolescent offending and involvement in the juvenile justice system. However, recent research and theory have called attention to the contributions of specific posttraumatic reactions, including posttraumatic dissociation (PD) and reckless or self-destructive behavior (RSDB), to offending behavior among adolescents. Therefore, this study investigated direct and indirect associations among trauma exposure, PD, RSDB, and offending in a sample of justice-involved adolescents. Participants were 301 adolescents (Mage = 16.03, SD = 1.24; 21% girls) recruited from a detention center in the Mountain West. The sample was racially and ethnic diverse, with 63% identifying as a racial or ethnic minority. Youth completed self-report measures of trauma exposure, PD, RSDB, and offending. As hypothesized, results of multiple mediation analysis demonstrated a significant indirect effect linking trauma exposure and offending through PD and RSDB. Results testing an alternative multiple mediation model were non-significant. These findings suggest that PD and RSDB may serve as key links accounting for the association between trauma exposure and offending behavior and reinforce the value of incorporating trauma-informed practices within juvenile justice systems.