Black Males, Impulsivity, and Externalizing Behaviors: A Black Criminology Analysis

In this paper, we explored whether the relationship between externalizing behaviors and impulsivity may have racialized dimensions. To do so, we uniquely constructed an unbalanced panel dataset from the PHDCN-LCS, which allowed us to examine the within-individual relationships between being a Black male, impulsivity, and externalizing behaviors. Based on the tenets of a Black Criminology, we suggested that because of their exposure to racism, Black males may exhibit the greatest volatility-or changes in their level of impulsivity-across time. Additionally, we explored whether the within-individual effect of changes in impulsivity on changes in externalizing behaviors across time may be greater for Black males in comparison to Black females, White females, and White males. The results revealed that Black males exhibited greater changes in their within-individual levels of impulsivity across time and that the within-individual effect of changes in impulsivity on changes in externalizing behaviors was greater for Black males than their counterparts. Our analyses suggest that further testing of the tenets of a Black Criminology is warranted.