Peer Influence as a Mediator of the Relationship between Parental Bond and Criminal Thinking: A Self-Determination Perspective

Criminal thinking refers to cognitive distortions that justify antisocial and unlawful conduct and is increasingly recognized as a clinically relevant barrier to rehabilitation, relapse prevention, and reintegration. Parental bonding is a foundational developmental influence on emotional security and self-regulation, whereas peer environments shape identity formation, behavioral norms, and cognitive justification processes particularly among vulnerable individuals. Self-Determination Theory (SDT) proposes that chronic frustration of autonomy, relatedness, and competence needs can heighten susceptibility to maladaptive external influence and deviant social reinforcement, which may contribute to criminogenic cognition.This study examined associations between parental bonding and criminal thinking among drug rehabilitation patients in Pakistan and evaluated whether peer influence can be positioned as a theoretically defensible mediating mechanism within an SDT framework. Using the available dataset, empirical analyses focused on parental bonding and criminal thinking, while dark tetrad traits were modeled as criminogenic personality correlates.A cross-sectional correlational design was employed. Participants (N = 123) were recruited from rehabilitation centers in Lahore, Pakistan. Measures included the Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), the Texas Christian University Criminal Thinking Scales (TCU-CTS), and the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4). Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, bivariate correlations, hierarchical regression, and regression-based mediation modeling.Criminal thinking was positively associated with dark tetrad traits and demonstrated meaningful patterns across psychosocial indicators. Parenting dimensions did not yield a statistically significant indirect pathway through dark tetrad traits. However, results supported SDT-consistent interpretations that social-contextual mechanisms particularly peer influence may act as reinforcement pathways shaping criminogenic cognition in addiction-linked rehabilitation populations.The findings confirm that criminogenic personality traits are strongly linked to criminal thinking among Pakistani rehabilitation patients. Although peer influence could not be tested as a statistical mediator within the available dataset, SDT provides a coherent explanatory model suggesting that need frustration within family relationships increases vulnerability to deviant peer norms, reinforcing criminal thinking styles. Rehabilitation programs should combine cognitive restructuring, family-based relational repair, and peer-context interventions to reduce criminogenic cognition and relapse vulnerability.