Childhood Adversity, Attachment, and Criminal Thinking: Is Criminal Thinking Related to a Particular Developmental History?

With 209 jail inmates, this study found that childhood adversity was associated with attachment anxiety and avoidance, and criminal thinking (CT). Attachment avoidance correlated to CT. Attachment avoidance mediated the influence of childhood adversity on CT wherein more childhood adversity predicted more attachment avoidance, which in turn predicted higher CT.