Higher Impulsivity in the Heterogeneous Structure of Theft Recidivists with and without Kleptomania

Impulsivity is associated with various maladaptive behaviors, although its specific role in criminology has remained largely unexplored. We investigated impulsivity in theft recidivists (TR) with and without a diagnosis of kleptomania (KA) compared to control (CT) subjects with no criminal record in this study. Impulsivity was measured using a 5-trial adjusting delay discounting task, and prefrontal cortical (PFC) hemodynamics were assessed using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Self-report questionnaires were also administered to further evaluate the relationships between impulsivity, negative affect, and reward and punishment sensitivity. TR demonstrated significantly higher impulsivity than CT, along with altered dorsomedial PFC hemodynamic responses. In addition, negative affect was significantly higher in the TR than in the CT participants. Path analysis revealed that the moderation of negative affect on reward, but not punishment, sensitivity, mediated impulsivity in TR. Notably, heightened impulsivity was observed across the TR participants regardless of KA diagnosis, whereas severe depression specifically distinguished KA from TR without it. These findings suggest that while trait impulsivity associated with PFC alterations may be a universal feature of TR, recurrent theft may be a heterogeneous condition, with specific affective dysregulations contributing differently to TR. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENTRecurrent thefts, such as shoplifting, are a devastating social problem, posing massive financial losses. Nonetheless, surprisingly nothing is known about the neurobehavioral mechanisms that drive people stealing. In fact, kleptomania is a psychiatric disorder that had been identified over 200 years ago, yet exceptionally few studies have investigated this psychiatric condition, and its mechanism remains essentially unknown to date. This study demonstrates that impulsivity is elevated among incarcerated individuals with recurrent thefts with and without a diagnosis of kleptomania, which is associated with the activity of the left dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Conversely, heightened depression among negative affect is a unique characteristic to kleptomania, providing evidence of heterogeneity among theft recidivists.