Higher Levels Of Antisocial Behavior Research Articles

The Social Failure Model: Do Classroom Norms Play a Role in the Development of Antisocial Behavior and Depressive Symptoms?

This study examined the moderating role of descriptive and status norms in the stability of youth's antisocial behavior, and the link between initial antisocial behavior and the development of depressive symptoms over the course of one academic year, while controlling for initial depression levels. A total of 1081 students (51.06% girls; grades 4 through 6) in schools in low to average socio-economic status neighborhoods completed self-reports and a peer nomination inventory in the fall (T1) and spring (T2) of one year. Descriptive norms were operationalized as the classroom- and sex-specific mean level of antisocial behavior. Status norms were operationalized as the classroom- and sex-specific correlation between antisocial behavior and social preference. Descriptive norms moderated the link between T1 and T2 antisocial behavior, such that youth exhibiting high levels of antisocial behavior showed a greater increase in antisocial behavior in classrooms where descriptive norms strongly favored such behavior (i.e., + 1 SD) than in classrooms with neutral or weak descriptive norms (i.e., - 1 SD). Status norms moderated the association between T1 antisocial behavior and T2 depressive symptoms, such that youth with high levels of antisocial behavior had higher depressive symptoms in classrooms where status norms disfavored antisocial behavior than in classrooms with neutral or favorable norms. No moderating effects of sex or grade were observed. These results suggest that both descriptive norms and status norms play important, albeit distinct, roles in exacerbating youth's depressive symptoms and antisocial behavior, but they may also mitigate these same outcomes in favorable contexts.

Coercive Parent-Adolescent Interactions Predict Substance use and Antisocial Behaviors Through Early Adulthood: A Dynamic Systems Perspective.

This study revisits the association between coercive parent-adolescent interactions and adolescent externalizing behaviors. Specifically, we investigate the moment-to-moment coercive exchanges between parents and adolescents and how these dynamic processes map to the long-term development of substance use and antisocial behavior from middle adolescence to early adulthood. We collected videotaped observations with 794 adolescents (ages 16-17 years) and their parents during interactions and coded their real-time behavioral exchanges. State Space Grid analyses were used to measure the proportion of time in which each parent-adolescent dyad engaged in the Dyadic Coercion region as an indicator of rigidity in dyadic coercion. We also measured adolescents' substance use and antisocial behavior at ages 16-17, ages 18-19, and ages 21-22. The enduring impact of parent-adolescent coercive interaction on substance use and antisocial behavior was tested using categorical latent growth curve models and path models. Adolescents with more coercive interactions with parents showed higher rates of increase in alcohol use and higher levels of antisocial behavior through early adulthood. The findings highlight the unique contribution of using intensive data to understand coercive interactions on a micro-timescale and how these dynamics influence long-term development in externalizing behaviors. Implications for intervention studies are discussed.

Resting heart rate and antisocial behaviour: a Mendelian randomisation study

Observational studies frequently report phenotypic associations between low resting heart rate (RHR) and higher levels of antisocial behaviour (ASB), although it remains unclear whether this relationship reflects causality. To triangulate evidence, we conducted two-sample univariable Mendelian randomisation (MR), multivariable MR and linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC) analyses. Genetic data were accessed from published genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for RHR (n = 458,835) and ASB (n = 85,359) for the univariable analyses, along with a third GWAS for heart rate variability (HRV; n = 53,174) for all other analyses. Genome-wide significant (p < 5 × 10−8) single-nucleotide polymorphisms associated with RHR (n = 278) were selected as instrumental variables and the outcome was a composite measure of ASB. No causal association was observed between RHR and ASB (BIVW = − 0.0004, p = 0.841). The multivariable MR analyses including RHR and HRV also suggested no causal associations (BIVW = 0.016, p = 0.914) and no genetic correlations between the heart rate measures and ASB were observed using LDSC (rg = 0.057, p = 0.169). Sensitivity analyses suggested that our results are not likely to be affected by heterogeneity, pleiotropic effects, or reverse causation. These findings suggest that individual differences in autonomic nervous system functioning indexed by RHR are not likely to directly contribute to the development of ASB. Therefore, previously observed associations between RHR and ASB may arise from confounding, reverse causation, and/or additional study characteristics. Further causally informative longitudinal research is required to confirm our findings, and caution should be applied when using measures of RHR in interventions targeting ASB.

Secure attachment predicts lower societal cost amongst severely antisocial adolescents

BackgroundSocial and economic costs associated with antisocial behaviour are well-established, but little is known about the potential costs savings/benefits of secure attachment in this high-risk group. We aimed to provide the first test of attachment quality as a distinct predictor of economic costs.Methods111 adolescents (10–17 years of age, M = 15.0, SD = 1.6; 71% male) referred to young offender services due to high levels of antisocial behaviour were included. Costs were measured by detailed service-use interview, and attachment security to mother and father elicited through the Child Attachment Interview. The level of antisocial behaviour and callous-unemotional traits were assessed. Cost predictors were calculated using generalised linear models.ResultsMean 12-months service costs were £5,368 (sd 5,769) per adolescent, with justice system and educational service costs being the main components. After adjusting for covariates, economic costs were predicted by attachment quality to fathers, with a difference of £2,655 per year between those with secure (£3,338) versus insecure attachment (£5,993); significant cost effects were not found for attachment quality to mothers. Higher levels of callous-unemotional traits, lower verbal IQ, higher levels of antisocial behaviour, and older age were also significant cost predictors.ConclusionsSecure attachment to fathers is a predictor of reduced public cost in adolescents with severe antisocial behaviour. This novel finding for severely antisocial youth extends previous findings in less antisocial children and underscores the public health and policy benefits of good caregiving quality and the value of population-level dissemination of evidence-based interventions that improve caregiving quality.

The bidirectional effects of antisocial behavior, anxiety, and trauma exposure: Implications for our understanding of the development of callous–unemotional traits.

The association of anxiety and trauma with antisocial behavior in children and adolescents has long been the focus of research, and more recently this area of research has become critical to theories of the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Research suggests those with elevated CU traits and anxiety (i.e., secondary CU variant) seem to show more severe externalizing behaviors and are more likely to show histories of trauma, compared to those with elevated CU and low anxiety (i.e., primary CU variant). These findings have typically been interpreted as being indicative of distinct etiological pathways to the development of CU traits. We test an alternative explanation that the higher rates of anxiety and trauma exposure in some youth with elevated CU traits are largely a consequence of their higher levels of antisocial behavior. The current study recruited a sample of 1,216 justice-involved adolescents (Mage = 15.28, SD = 1.28) from three distinct regions of the United States, who were assessed at 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 months following their first arrest. Using random-intercept cross-lagged models, both antisocial behavior and CU traits predicted changes in future anxiety and CU traits predicted increases in future victimization. Further, using longitudinal parallel mediation models, antisocial and aggressive behavior largely accounted for the predictive association between CU traits and anxiety and CU traits and victimization. These results support a model in which anxiety and trauma histories may be a marker of the severity of antisocial behavior displayed by youth with elevated CU traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Moral reasoning, emotion understanding, and callous-unemotional traits in early-to-middle childhood.

Relatively little is known about features of moral reasoning among young children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of guilt and empathy). This study tested associations between CU traits and emotion attributions (i.e., identification of others' emotional states) and justifications (i.e., explanations for those emotional states), across social scenarios involving discreet versus salient distress cues. The participants were boys aged 6-to-10years (N=50; Mage =7years 7months), who were interviewed about 12 hypothetical scenarios (eight with discreet and four with salient distress cues). Regression models indicated that CU traits, in interaction with high levels of antisocial behaviour, were associated with reduced emotion attributions of fear in discreet but not salient immoral scenarios. Higher CU traits were also associated with reduced justifications referencing others' welfare in discreet scenarios, and increased references to action-orientated justifications in salient scenarios. These findings suggest that CU traits are associated with early moral reasoning impairments and that salience of distress may be important to these processes.

Urban Adolescence: The Role of Neighbourhood Greenspace in Mental Well-Being

Mental health and well-being in adolescence are associated with many short- and long-term outcomes. The evidence suggests that greenspace may play a role in adolescents' mental well-being, but we do not know much about the specifics of this link. In this paper, we investigated the role of other factors in the association. In a cross-sectional study, we investigated the role of neighbourhood greenspace in emotional and behavioural outcomes in 11-year-old urban adolescents participating in the UK Millennium Cohort Study (n = 4,534). We used linear regression models to test for an association of greenspace with self-esteem, happiness, positive mood, negative mood, and antisocial behaviour. We also investigated effect modification/moderation by garden access, physical activity, and perceived area safety. We did not find a main effect of greenspace, but we did find interaction effects. First, in adolescents without a garden, higher levels of greenspace were associated with lower levels of self-esteem and positive mood. Second, in adolescents who reported lower levels of physical activity, higher levels of greenspace were associated with lower levels of negative mood. Third, in adolescents who perceived their areas to be unsafe, higher levels of greenspace were associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviour. Our findings suggest that merely more greenspace in the neighbourhood may not be sufficient to promote the mental well-being of urban adolescents in the UK. However, greenspace does seem to have an influence under certain conditions which should be investigated further in future studies.

Continuity and Change in the Genetic and Environmental Etiology of Youth Antisocial Behavior.

Trajectories of youth antisocial behavior (ASB) are characterized by both continuity and change. Twin studies have further indicated that genetic factors underlie continuity, while environmental exposures unique to each child in a given family underlie change. However, most behavioral genetic studies have examined continuity and change during relatively brief windows of development (e.g., during childhood but not into adolescence). It is unclear whether these findings would persist when ASB trajectories are examined across multiple stages of early development (i.e., from early childhood into emerging adulthood). Our study sought to fill this gap by examining participants assessed up to five times between the ages of 3 and 22years using an accelerated longitudinal design in the Michigan State University Twin Registry (MSUTR). We specifically examined the etiologies of stability and change via growth curve modeling and a series of univariate and bivariate twin analyses. While participants exhibited moderate-to-high rank-order stability, mean levels of ASB decreased linearly with age. Genetic and nonshared environmental influences that were present in early childhood also contributed to both stability and change across development, while shared environmental contributions were negligible. In addition, genetic and nonshared environmental influences that were not yet present at the initial assessment contributed to change over time. Although ASB tended to decrease in frequency with age, participants who engaged in high levels of ASB during childhood generally continued to do so throughout development. Moreover, the genetic and nonshared environmental contributions to ASB early in development also shaped the magnitude of the decrease with age.

LSD use in the United States: Trends, correlates, and a typology of us

BackgroundRecent years have witnessed an increased interest in LSD. This study investigates current information on the trends and correlates of LSD use from years 2002–2018 and seeks to develop an initial typology of use and misuse. MethodsData is taken from the NSDUH (National Survey on Drug Use and Health) collected between 2002 and 2018 and trends and correlates of LSD use were analyzed with a survey adjusted logistic regression. ResultsOur findings indicate that LSD use has increased 200 % over the study period (.23 % 2002−2005 to .72 % 2015−2018, AOR = 1.10, 95 % CI = 1.08, 1.12). Our findings also indicate several correlates of LSD use including higher levels of education (college degrees: AOR = 1.62, 95 % CI = 1.23, 2.13), not being married (divorced or separated, AOR = 2.31, 95 % CI = 1.44, 3.73, and have never been married, AOR = 5.67, f 95 % CI = 4.09, 7.86), as well as higher levels of antisocial behavior (having been arrested AOR = 3.20, 95 % CI = 2.50, 4.09) and comorbid mental health and substance abuse disorders (serious psychological distress, AOR = 2.39, 95 % CI = 2.05, 2.80). Further, four distinct subclasses were also discovered within LSD users and two of these subtypes of LSD users contained comorbid mental health disturbances and heavy involvement in the criminal justice system. ConclusionLSD use has been on the rise within the last decades, particularly among those who are well educated. Two subclasses of LSD use (those with severe comorbid mental health disorders and those with criminal justice involvement) may require further interventions.

Religiosity as a moderator of ADHD-related antisocial behaviour and emotional distress among secular, religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel.

Background:ADHD predicts higher levels of antisocial behaviour and distress while religiosity is related to lower levels of both. This raises the hitherto unexplored question of how these variables interact.Aims:The objective of this study was to explore how religious individuals with ADHD fare in terms of these psychosocial outcomes.Method:806 secular, religious and Ultra-Orthodox Jewish adults in Israel completed measures of ADHD symptoms and treatment, emotional strengths and difficulties, religious belonging, religious behaviour and antisocial behaviour.Results:Findings supported an additive-interactive model in which religiosity (a) correlates with lower levels of ADHD symptoms and diagnosis, (b) directly relates to less antisocial behaviour and less distress and (c) moderates the negative effects of ADHD on antisocial behaviour and distress. Findings further suggest that religious observance rather than religious belonging drives most of the moderating effect of religiosity, while religious belonging rather than religious observance drives negative attitudes towards ADHD.Conclusions:Implications include the importance of treating religious individuals with ADHD in a more nuanced manner and of providing more information on ADHD to religious communities.

Psychopathology Symptoms are Associated with Prenatal Health Practices in Pregnant Women with Heavy Smoking Levels

Smoking during pregnancy may be linked to other problematic prenatal health behaviors in women. We examined interrelationships among prenatal smoking, prenatal health behaviors and mental health. The objective of this study was to examine factors that may contribute to variations in prenatal health practices among women who smoke during pregnancy. Birth mothers from an adoption study (N = 912) were interviewed about prenatal smoking, health behaviors, and mental health symptoms at 5months postpartum. One-quarter of participants (N = 222) reported smoking 6 or more cigarettes daily for at least 1 trimester. For mothers who smoked more than 6 cigarettes daily, higher levels of antisocial behaviors (β = - .14, p = .03) and depressive symptoms (β = - .17, p = .03) were associated with less frequent prenatal folate use; antisocial behaviors and depressive symptoms were not associated for prenatal folate use among women who did not smoke more than 6 cigarettes daily. For mothers who did not smoke more than 6 cigarettes daily, more depressive symptoms were associated with fewer prenatal care visits (β = .12, p = .01). Antisocial behaviors and anxiety symptoms were not associated with prenatal care visits in either group of mothers. CONCLUSIONSFOR PRACTICE: Maternal antisocial behaviors and depressive symptoms during pregnancy may be markers for poorer adherence to recommendations for folate supplementation among women who smoke 6 or more cigarettes daily during pregnancy, independent of adequacy of prenatal care.

The joint association of family-level inadequate housing and neighbourhood-level antisocial behaviour with child mental health problems

The objectives of this study are to (1) quantify the joint association of inadequate housing (presence of pests, mold, and need for repairs) and neighbourhood antisocial behaviour (assault, victimization, theft, and break-ins) with children’s mental health problems (externalizing and internalizing); and (2) assess whether this joint association varies as a function of child age – the latter critical for understanding when interventions will have maximum impact. Using data from the 2014 Ontario Child Health Study and multilevel modeling, our findings indicate that (1) the magnitude of the association between inadequate housing and child mental health problems is stronger in neighbourhoods characterized by high levels of antisocial behaviour; and (2) the cross-level interaction between inadequate housing and neighbourhood antisocial behaviour is more pronounced among younger vs. older children for externalizing but not internalizing problems. Greater government intervention is required to ensure that families have access to adequate and affordable housing in neighbourhoods free from safety concerns. Policies and interventions must be implemented as early as possible in the life course to have maximum impact.

Peer Influence on Aggression at School: How Vulnerable Are Higher Risk Adolescents?

Adolescent students with high levels of antisocial behavior are at increased risk for future psychosocial problems and can be expected to be especially vulnerable to negative peer influence. This study therefore examined whether higher risk students are more susceptible than lower risk students to classroom peer influence on aggression. Analyses were based on anonymous self-reports from 792 students in 55 classrooms at four data collection points that span the beginning (T1) to the end (T4) of Grade 7. The mean age at T1 was 13.12 years ( SD = 0.48 years) and 52.7% of the participants were boys. Students’ risk status was assessed using a norm-based cutoff score from a standardized screening instrument. Multilevel analyses revealed that the aggression scores of higher risk students showed larger increases than those of other adolescents and that this difference was dependent on higher aggression levels among classmates. These results suggest that higher risk students may be particularly vulnerable to high levels of aggression in classrooms, whereas low levels of aggression in classrooms may be protective.

Congruence and Incongruence in Father, Mother, and Adolescent Reports of Parental Monitoring: Examining the Links With Antisocial Behaviors

This study examined the level of congruence and incongruence between fathers’, mothers’, and adolescents’ perceptions of parental monitoring in relation to the adolescents’ antisocial behaviors. A sample of 163 father-mother-adolescent triads (59.5% girls; [Formula: see text] age = 12.35) filled out separate questionnaires assessing the dimensions of parental monitoring (i.e., parental knowledge, adolescent self-disclosure, parental control, and parental solicitation) and the adolescents also reported on the frequency of their antisocial behaviors. Polynomial regression analyses revealed that the higher the level of congruence between the father’s and/or mother’s and adolescent’s perceptions, the less the adolescent tended to present antisocial behaviors. Some results differed according to the parents’ gender. Incongruence between mothers’ and adolescents’ perceptions of parental knowledge was associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviors, whereas congruence between fathers’ and adolescents’ perceptions of parental knowledge showed a nonlinear relationship with these behaviors. These results shed light on how parental monitoring contributes to adolescent functioning.

Examining How Testosterone and Cortisol Influence the Relationship Between Strain, Negative Emotions, and Antisocial Behavior: A Gendered Analysis

This study provides a test of General Strain Theory by examining the relations between strain, negative emotions, and biological hormones in the prediction of antisocial behavior across gender. Findings from a diverse sample of 512 undergraduate students reveal that strain and the ratio between testosterone to cortisol reactivity are associated with higher levels of antisocial behavior in males, but not females. In contrast, the effect of depressive symptoms on antisocial behavior is stronger at higher levels of strain and ratio of testosterone to cortisol reactivity in females. Drug use and depressive symptoms were found to partly mediate the association between strain and antisocial behavior in females, but not males.

Child maltreatment and the risk of antisocial behaviour: A population-based cohort study spanning 50 years

BackgroundChild maltreatment is associated with an increased risk of antisocial behaviour; however, whether this risk persists and remains stable across the life-course is undetermined. ObjectiveTo examine associations between chid maltreatment and antisocial behaviour across the life-course. Participants and settingThe study used 50 years of longitudinal data from the 1958 British birth cohort (n = 8088) measuring child neglect (prospectively) and abuse (retrospectively) and antisocial behaviour from childhood-to-adulthood. MethodsLatent growth curve models analysed the longitudinal course of antisocial behaviour across childhood (7–16years) and adulthood (23–50years) as a function of child maltreatment. We used directed acyclic graphs to identify, and adjust for, potential confounders (biological, family, social). ResultsChild maltreatment was associated with higher levels of antisocial behaviour at all seven timepoints across the life-course (7–50years). Antisocial behaviour was elevated during childhood and adulthood in individuals who were maltreated, independently of confounding factors. Individuals who experienced multiple types of maltreatment were at the greatest risk of antisocial behaviour. Each additional maltreatment type was associated with an increased risk during both childhood (B = 0.173; SE = 0.024; p < .001) and adulthood (B = 0.137; SE = 0.014; p < .001). There was limited evidence that child maltreatment was associated with within-person rates of change, indicating that the increased risk of antisocial behaviour did not change over time. ConclusionsChild maltreatment is associated with an increased risk of antisocial behaviour, with a persistent and stable association remaining up to age 50. Our results highlight the burden of child maltreatment and the importance of providing long-term support for individuals who experience child maltreatment.

Profiles of Antisocial Behavior in School-Based and At-Risk Adolescents in Singapore: A Latent Class Analysis.

This study used latent class analysis to examine whether multiple subgroups can be identified based on rule-breaking and aggressive behavior in school-based and at-risk adolescent samples. These groups were tested for differences in behavioral, emotional, personality and interpersonal correlates. Rule breaking and aggressive behavior co-occurred across all classes. School-based adolescents were classified as having minimal, minor or moderate antisocial problems. At-risk adolescents were classified as having mild, medium or severe antisocial problems. Generally, at-risk adolescents had higher levels of antisocial behavior, and greater severity of antisocial behavior was associated with more problems in various domains. Results differed however, for the school-based and at-risk samples with respect to emotional problems, sensation-seeking and peer conformity pressure. There is a need to jointly consider both non-aggressive rule-breaking behavior and aggressive behavior in prevention and intervention work, as it is insufficient to address isolated symptoms and problems in children and adolescents.

Further Evaluating the Relationship Between Adverse Childhood Experiences, Antisocial Behavior, and Violent Victimization: A Sibling-Comparison Analysis

A developing line of research suggests that adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) increase the risk for antisocial behavior and future victimization. However, the mechanisms that underlie this association remain largely speculative. To address this gap in the existing body of research, data on full siblings from a large population-based sample of youth were analyzed to evaluate the direct effect of ACEs on child antisocial behavior, adolescent delinquency, and young adult violent victimization after controlling for familial confounders. Traditional between-family analyses revealed that ACEs were significantly associated with higher levels of childhood antisocial behavior, adolescent delinquent behavior, and risk for violent crime victimization. After controlling for unmeasured common genetic and shared environmental confounds using fixed-effect sibling comparisons, siblings exposed to more ACEs did not demonstrate higher levels of antisocial behavior, delinquent behavior, or risk for future victimization. The implications of these results for future ACEs research are discussed.

Bayesian quantile regression for joint modeling of longitudinal mixed ordinal and continuous data

In this paper, we develop a joint model based on the random effects approach for bivariate longitudinal mixed ordinal and continuous responses using quantile regression for both responses. In order to model the continuous responses an asymmetric Laplace (AL) distribution is assigned to the error term in continuous model. For modeling the ordinal responses using quantile regression, the threshold concept and a latent variable model in which the error term has AL distribution, is applied. For estimating the parameters a Bayesian approach via Gibbs sampling method is used. Moreover, we use the Peabody Individual Achievement Test (PIAT) dataset to illustrate an application of the proposed model. According to the results, children with low levels of antisocial behavior have better reading ability than that of children with high levels of antisocial behavior.

The contributions of relationships with parents and teachers to Turkish children’s antisocial behaviour

The present study examined the concurrent contributions of parent–child and teacher–child relationship quality to Turkish children’s antisocial behaviour, with a specific focus on the moderating role of teacher–child relationships (closeness and conflict) on parent–child relationships when predicting antisocial behaviour. Participants were 94 children (56 boys) with mean age of 7.05 years (SD = .88) enrolled in 24 classrooms from five elementary schools in a suburban school district in Turkey. Mothers reported on their relationship with children and teachers reported on their relationships with children as well as children’s antisocial behaviour. SAS PROC MIXED was used to test hierarchical regression models of children nested within classrooms. Results showed that teacher–child conflict moderated the association between parent–child conflict and children’s antisocial behaviour. Such that, higher parent–child conflict was related to higher levels of antisocial behaviour at the context of higher levels of teacher–child conflict. In addition, teacher–child closeness also moderated the association between parent–child conflict and children’s antisocial behaviour. Such that when teacher–child closeness was at average or high levels, lower levels of parent–child conflict was related to lower levels of antisocial behaviour. Teacher–child conflict was positively associated with children’s antisocial behaviour. Limitations and future directions of the current study are discussed.