Childhood predictors differentiate life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial pathways among males and females

2001 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 355-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERRIE E. MOFFITT ◽  
AVSHALOM CASPI

This article reports a comparison on childhood risk factors of males and females exhibiting childhood-onset and adolescent-onset antisocial behavior, using data from the Dunedin longitudinal study. Childhood-onset delinquents had childhoods of inadequate parenting, neurocognitive problems, and temperament and behavior problems, whereas adolescent-onset delinquents did not have these pathological backgrounds. Sex comparisons showed a male-to-female ratio of 10:1 for childhood-onset delinquency but a sex ratio of only 1.5:1 for adolescence-onset delinquency. Showing the same pattern as males, childhood-onset females had high-risk backgrounds but adolescent-onset females did not. These findings are consistent with core predictions from the taxonomic theory of life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior.

2002 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 179-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
TERRIE E. MOFFITT ◽  
AVSHALOM CASPI ◽  
HONALEE HARRINGTON ◽  
BARRY J. MILNE

This article reports a comparison on outcomes of 26-year-old males who were defined several years ago in the Dunedin longitudinal study as exhibiting childhood-onset versus adolescent-onset antisocial behavior and who were indistinguishable on delinquent offending in adolescence. Previous studies of these groups in childhood and adolescence showed that childhood-onset delinquents had inadequate parenting, neurocognitive problems, undercontrolled temperament, severe hyperactivity, psychopathic personality traits, and violent behavior. Adolescent-onset delinquents were not distinguished by these features. Here followed to age 26 years, the childhood-onset delinquents were the most elevated on psychopathic personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, numbers of children, financial problems, work problems, and drug-related and violent crime, including violence against women and children. The adolescent-onset delinquents at 26 years were less extreme but elevated on impulsive personality traits, mental-health problems, substance dependence, financial problems, and property offenses. A third group of men who had been aggressive as children but not very delinquent as adolescents emerged as low-level chronic offenders who were anxious, depressed, socially isolated, and had financial and work problems. These findings support the theory of life-course-persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behavior but also extend it. Findings recommend intervention with all aggressive children and with all delinquent adolescents, to prevent a variety of maladjustments in adult life.


Author(s):  
Tara Renae McGee ◽  
Terrie E. Moffitt

This chapter considers whether the peak in the age–crime curve is a function of active offenders committing more crime during adolescence or a function of more individuals actively offending in the peak years. It discusses the two main and most empirically tested typological groupings: the life-course persistent group and the adolescence limited group. The chapter then reviews the evidence on a theoretically interesting grouping: those who abstain from antisocial and offending behavior. It focuses on the debate regarding whether those who were originally thought to recover from early-onset antisocial behavior have childhood-limited antisocial behavior or exhibit low-level chronic antisocial behavior across the life course. Finally, the chapter discusses how the theory it introduces accounts for adult-onset offending and considers whether there are gender differences that need to be accounted for by the theory.


2016 ◽  
Vol 63 (5) ◽  
pp. 592-612 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Rocque ◽  
Wesley G. Jennings ◽  
Alex R. Piquero ◽  
Turgut Ozkan ◽  
David P. Farrington

School dropout has been extensively studied in the literature as a correlate of negative life outcomes. A precursor to school dropout is truancy, the unexcused or illegitimate student absence from school. Few studies have examined the relationship between truancy and involvement in crime and adjustment more generally over the life-course. This study extends previous work by exploring whether truancy at age 12 to 14 is related to later life outcomes such as crime, aggression, and adjustment using data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. Results indicate that truancy has long-lasting associations with negative life outcomes, especially for non-violent crime and problem drinking. Importantly, these findings hold for certain outcomes controlling for a comprehensive host of environmental and individual childhood risk factors.


2019 ◽  
pp. 088626051988852
Author(s):  
Henriikka Weir ◽  
Catherine Kaukinen ◽  
Alesha Cameron

Using data from all three waves of the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) longitudinal cohort study, this article examined the long-term effects of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure during childhood and early adolescence on subsequent externalizing behaviors (i.e., delinquency, violence, and drug offenses). A propensity score matching (PSM) was employed to match a group of individuals reporting childhood/adolescence IPV exposure to those not exposed to IPV on key variables. Longitudinal latent class analyses (LLCA) were then utilized to estimate the longitudinal developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors separately for the IPV- and non-IPV-exposed males and females and compared with each other. PSM revealed that there were small but significant differences in mean levels of externalizing behaviors between IPV-exposed and non-IPV-exposed youth at Waves 2 and 3. Furthermore, LLCA indicated that there were three distinct developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors among the IPV-exposed males but four distinct developmental trajectories of externalizing behaviors among the IPV-exposed females, non-IPV-exposed males, and non-IPV-exposed females. Overall, the IPV-exposed males had the largest number of life-course-persistent offenders as well as adolescents who started their offending at a very early age but rapidly declined by the end of the study period. However, the non-IPV-exposed males’, albeit smaller, life-course-persistent group displayed by far the highest levels of externalizing behaviors of the entire sample. Females in the present study were largely similar to each other in the development of externalizing behaviors, regardless of IPV exposure. Policy implications are discussed.


2007 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1241-1261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael G. Turner ◽  
Jennifer L. Hartman ◽  
Donna M. Bishop

Research examining Moffitt's dual taxonomy theory of offending has generally supported the idea that neuropsychological deficits interact with disadvantaged familial environments to predict life-course-persistent offending. Most research, however, has neglected to investigate the power of this interaction across different neighborhood and racial contexts. Using data extracted from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, Moffitt's biosocial hypothesis is tested across different neighborhood and racial contexts. The findings indicate that the biosocial interaction predicts life-course-persistent offending only among non-Whites in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Stated differently, macro-level structural factors appear to moderate the effects of individual and family risks. That poor non-Whites reside in neighborhoods that are ecologically distinct from those in which poor Whites reside exacerbates the criminogenic effects of individual-level deficits and family disadvantage.


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