Justice-involved youth with a history of firesetting: the role of mental health comorbidity and associations with parenting and personality

Firesetting in adolescence has been linked to psychiatric comorbidity, yet evidence from justice-involved and non-Western samples remains limited. This study examined the prevalence of firesetting and its associations with psychiatric diagnoses, self-reported mental health, perceived parenting, and personality traits in 370 incarcerated male youths in Northern Russia (ages 14–19, M = 16.4). Twenty-seven (7.3%) met threshold criteria for lifetime deliberate firesetting. Firesetters were more likely to meet criteria for conduct disorder (all cases), post-traumatic stress disorder, and alcohol abuse, and were more likely to have three or more lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. They reported higher retrospective oppositional-defiant and conduct problems, greater impulsivity and violent behaviour, elevated delinquent and externalising symptoms, higher novelty seeking, and greater paternal rejection. Findings suggest deliberate firesetting in this justice-involved Russian sample is associated with an externalising/trauma-related profile, disinhibitory traits, and adverse paternal rearing, highlighting targets for integrated, trauma-informed assessment and intervention.