/pdf/preventing-crime-what-works-what-doesn-t-what-s-promising-1jp2dkc4ik.pdf

Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn't, What's Promising. Research in Brief. National Institute of Justice.

Different manifestations of aggression from childhood to early adulthood are reviewed to establish how early manifestations are related to later manifestations. Similarities and differences in manifestations of aggression between the two genders are noted. Developmental sequences and pathways from minor aggression to violence are highlighted. Long-term escalation is contrasted with short-term escalation at older ages. Although studies have emphasized high stability of aggression over time, data show that a substantial proportion of aggressive youth desist over time. Temperamental, emotional, and cognitive aspects of aggression are reviewed, either as precursors or co-occurring conditions to aggression. Selected processes in the realms of the family, peers, and neighborhoods are highlighted that are known to be associated with juvenile aggression. Cumulative, long-term causes are contrasted with short-term causes, and causes associated with desistance in aggression are reviewed.

Key issues in the development of aggression and violence from childhood to early adulthood

A biopsychosocial model of the development of adolescent chronic conduct problems is presented and supported through a review of empirical findings. This model posits that biological dispositions and sociocultural contexts place certain children at risk in early life but that life experiences with parents, peers, and social institutions increment and mediate this risk. A transactional developmental model is best equipped to describe the emergence of chronic antisocial behavior across time. Reciprocal influences among dispositions, contexts, and life experiences lead to recursive iterations across time that exacerbate or diminish antisocial development. Cognitive and emotional processes within the child, including the acquisition of knowledge and social-information-processing patterns, mediate the relation between life experiences and conduct problem outcomes. Implications for prevention research and public policy are noted.

/pdf/a-biopsychosocial-model-of-the-development-of-chronic-qtmmukthdp.pdf

A Biopsychosocial Model of the Development of Chronic Conduct Problems in Adolescence

This article reviews behavioral-genetic research to show how it can help address questions of causation in developmental psychopathology. The article focuses on studies of antisocial behavior, because these have been leading the way in investigating environmental as well as genetic influences on psychopathology. First, the article illustrates how behavioral-genetic methods are being newly applied to detect the best candidates for genuine environmental causes among the many risk factors for antisocial behavior. Second, the article examines findings of interaction between genes and environments (G x E) associated with antisocial behavior, outlining steps for testing hypotheses of measured G x E. Third, the article envisages future work on gene-environment interplay, arguing that it is an interesting and profitable way forward for psychopathology research.

The New Look of Behavioral Genetics in Developmental Psychopathology: Gene-Environment Interplay in Antisocial Behaviors.

Gang membership has long been understood to have a disruptive influence on adolescent development and to contribute disproportionately to the rate of delinquent crime. The nature of the impact, and the long-term effects on individuals, have not been well understood. This book uses longitudinal data to examine the developmental consequences of gang membership, and its longer term influence on the life course. This longitudinal approach is made possible by data from a study of antisocial behavior, The Rochester Youth Development Study, which followed one thousand adolescents through their early adult years. The subjects include delinquents who were gang members and others who were not, allowing the authors to compare motives, patterns of behavior, and recurring problems with caregivers and the law, education, peer relations, and career paths. The findings indicate that multiple developmental deficits lead to gang membership and that membership leads to an increase in delinquency.

https://bilder.buecher.de/zusatz/29/29337/29337606_lese_1.pdf

Gangs and Delinquency in Developmental Perspective

This study examines alternative explanations for why gang members are more likely to have higher rates of serious and violent crime than nongang members. Specifically, three models are posited: (a) a selection or “kind of person” model; (b) a social facilitation or “kind of group” model; and (c) an enhancement model that combines aspects of the selection and social facilitation models. Each model has different implications for the rate of delinquency and drug use of gang members before, during, and after membership in a gang. Data from the Rochester Youth Development Study, a panel study that overrepresents adolescents at high risk for serious delinquent behavior and drug use, are used to compare these models. Findings indicate that gang members, as compared to nongang members, did not have higher rates of delinquent behavior or drug use before entering the gang, but once they became members, their rates increased substantially. Moreover, when gang members left the gang their rates of delinquency typicall...

The Role of Juvenile Gangs in Facilitating Delinquent Behavior

This study examines the reduction of the number of items in the scales of the Child Behavior Checklist, while maintaining the reliability and predictability of its original scales For that purpose, the original scales were replicated with data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study New, abbreviated scales were constructed using the most potent items This process yielded trimmed scales that were highly correlated with the full scales and that still reflect the original meanings of the scales Further, there was no loss of reliability or predictability with the trimmed as opposed to the full scales The results were replicated in an analysis with identical variables from the Rochester Youth Development Study This replication produced equally high reliabilities with similar levels of prediction of delinquent behavior

A shortened Child Behavior Checklist for delinquency studies.

Social scientists see communities as being more than the sum of the individuals that comprise them. The community provides the context in which individuals organize their social lives, thus helping to pattern their behavior. In particular, social disorganization theory posits that individuals in disorganized communities find it difficult to form the broad social bonds and networks necessary to monitor adolescent behavior. The result of this lack of supervision is an increase in an individual adolescent’s propensity to become delinquent. Despite the appeal of this notion, very few researchers have utilized both community and individual level variables in the analysis of individuals’ propensity to commit crime. In this paper we consider the impact of both neighborhood and individual level variables on delinquency, using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study. The results suggest only marginal effects of community level variables on individuals. Some alternative models for analyzing community effects are discussed.

Neighborhood Context and Delinquency: A Longitudinal Analysis

This study examines the reduction of the number of items in the scales of the Child Behavior Checklist, while maintaining the reliability and predictability of its original scales. For that purpose, the original scales were replicated with data from the Pittsburgh Youth Study. New, abbreviated scales were constructed using the most potent items. This process yielded trimmed scales that were highly correlated with the full scales and that still reflect the original meanings of the scales. Further, there was no loss of reliability or predictability with the trimmed as opposed to the full scales. The results were replicated in an analysis with identical variables from the Rochester Youth Development Study. This replica tion produced equally high reliabilities with similar levels of prediction of delinquent behavior.

Deborah J. Chard-Wierschem

Papers

The Role of Juvenile Gangs in Facilitating Delinquent Behavior

A shortened Child Behavior Checklist for delinquency studies.

Neighborhood Context and Delinquency: A Longitudinal Analysis

Research Note A Shortened Child Behavior Checklist for Delinquency Studies