It has been suggested that juvenile delinquents have impaired recognition of facial expression, although this remains controversial. To address this issue, we investigated facial expression recognition in 24 male juvenile delinquents incarcerated in reformatories. Their performance was compared with 24 age- and gender-matched controls. The participants matched the emotion of facial expressions with appropriate verbal labels, using standardized photographs of facial expressions illustrating six basic emotions. The juvenile delinquents were less accurate at recognizing the facial expressions disgust and sadness than controls. When compared with controls, the juvenile delinquents frequently misrecognized the facial expression disgust as anger. These results suggest that impaired emotional communication via facial expressions, specifically a bias toward a hostile interpretation, may be related to juvenile delinquency.
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