Moral Disengagement and Gender Differences in Victims of the Armed Conflict, Criminals and Students

Studying the cognitive mechanisms of moral disengagement associated with criminal conducts in adolescents and their variability according to gender is a growing topic of interest in criminology. This study's objective is to comparatively examine moral disengagement mechanisms and gender differences in criminal adolescents, youth disassociated from illegal armed groups and students. A quantitative methodology was used and the design was nonexperimental and cross-sectional, with a comparative scope. The study included a non-probability sample composed of three population groups: adolescents disassociated from illegal armed groups (G1), criminal adolescents (G2) and adolescent students without criminal records (G3). The results show that adolescents from G2 used the different moral disengagement mechanisms more compared to other adolescents. Gender differences were observed in moral disengagement between groups and individuals, with significantly higher scores for males, especially in G2. These results support the need to consider cognitive-moral and gender processes in explanatory models and juvenile delinquency interdisciplinary models.. Lastly, it is also necessary to take the type of association of adolescents in criminal groups and activities into account.