Pattern Of Antisocial Behavior Research Articles

The Influence of Peer and Educational Variables on Arrest Status Among At-Risk Males

In this article, we examine the predictive power of selected social and academic variables regarding arrest frequency for 11th-grade boys who 7 years earlier had been judged to be at risk for developing antisocial behavior patterns. Multiple regression analyses indicated that (a) measures of academic and social skills that reflected more skilled and positive profiles were associated with participants' exhibiting less frequent and less severe forms of antisocial behavior, as shown by arrest records at 11th grade, and (b) antisocial measures on which participants scored higher were associated with more frequent arrests for more serious offenses in Grade 11. We also conducted an analysis of the residuals to study those persons and their characteristics who were misclassified by the predictive model. Implications of these results for future research and intervention, particularly within the context of schooling, are discussed.

Integrating qualitative and quantitative methods in the study of developmental psychopathology in context.

Qualitative methods are well suited to advance the understanding of the role of social context in the development of maladaptation and psychopathology. However, they have not been widely used by developmental psychopathologists, despite being utilized in related fields, particularly in the sociological study of crime and delinquency. This article assesses the potential for the increased use of qualitative methods in developmental psychopathology and addresses the challenges involved in integrating them with quantitative research strategies. The interplay of qualitative and quantitative methods in the study of juvenile delinquency is reviewed for relevant lessons about both the utility and the difficulties of integrating the two types of methods. The problem of assessing continuities and discontinuities over the life course in patterns of antisocial behavior is discussed as an example of the challenge of integrating methodological paradigms. Schools of thought about qualitative methods and their relationship to quantitative research paradigms are identified and compared. Examples are discussed of narrative life history interviewing and qualitative observational techniques and of recent research endeavors integrating these qualitative techniques with quantitative data analyses.

Impulsive corporal punishment by mothers and antisocial behavior and impulsiveness of children.

This study tested the hypothesis that corporal punishment (CP), such as spanking or slapping a child for purposes of correcting misbehavior, is associated with antisocial behavior (ASB) and impulsiveness by the child. The data were obtained through interviews with a probability sample of 933 mothers of children age 2-14 in two small American cities. Analyses of variance found that the more CP experienced by the child, the greater the tendency for the child to engage in ASB and to act impulsively. These relationships hold even after controlling for family socioeconomic status, the age and sex of the child, nurturance by the mother, and the level of noncorporal interventions by the mother. There were also significant interaction effects of CP with impulsiveness by the mother. When CP was carried out impulsively, it was most strongly related to child impulsiveness and ASB; when CP was done when the mother was under control, the relationship to child behavior problems was reduced but still present. In view of the fact that there is a high risk of losing control when engaged in CP, even by parents who are not usually impulsive, and the fact that impulsive CP is so strongly associated with child behavior problems, the results of this study suggest that CP is an important risk factor for children developing a pattern of impulsive and antisocial behavior which, in turn, may contribute to the level of violence and other crime in society.

Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy: diagnostic dilemmas in classifying patterns of antisocial behavior in sentencing evaluations

Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy: diagnostic dilemmas in classifying patterns of antisocial behavior in sentencing evaluations

Antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy: diagnostic dilemmas in classifying patterns of antisocial behavior in sentencing evaluations.

Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) and PCL-R psychopathy are critically examined regarding their application to sentencing determinations. PCL-R psychopathy is emerging in the literature as a more useful forensic diagnostic construct than APD, which appears flawed by multiple weaknesses. These include shifting diagnostic criteria, innumeracy problems, absence of symptom weighting, temporal instability, and the equivalence of some symptoms with substance abuse disorders. Additionally, APD overdiagnosis may result from inattention to issues of social context, trauma history, and symptom pervasiveness. Neither objective nor projective personality testing reliably differentiates APD. Finally, an APD diagnosis does not always indicate criminal, much less incorrigible criminal behavior. By contrast, PCL-R psychopathy results are strongly predictive of criminal behavior and violent recidivism for Caucasian males through mid-life residing in the community. Emerging research with the PCL-R regarding other important populations and contexts is promising but generalization is currently limited.

Longitudinal Correlates of Arrest Status Among At-Risk Males

We examined the longitudinal adjustment, from grade 4 to grade 11, of a sample (n = 76) of boys judged to be at-risk for developing antisocial behavior patterns. We also examined subgroups of the sample differentiated by risk status and arrest records at grade 11. Antisocial behavior patterns exhibited by these boys demonstrated considerable stability over time. Differences were noted among high and lower-risk groups who were and were not arrested. In particular, measures of academic and social skills dimensions were related to better overall adjustment as indicated by lower arrest rates. Implications of these results for intervention are presented.

Psychopathy and Conduct Problems in Children: II. Implications for Subtyping Children With Conduct Problems

To test whether the presence of callous and unemotional (CU) traits designates a unique subgroup of children with conduct problems that corresponds more closely to adult conceptualizations of psychopathy. A clinic-referred sample of 120 children between the ages of 6 and 13 years were assessed using parent and teacher ratings of CU traits, as well as parent and teacher report on a structured interview assessing oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) symptoms. A cluster analysis of the ratings of CU traits and ODD/ CD symptoms revealed four clusters of children, two of which had high rates of ODD and CD symptoms. One of these conduct problem clusters also exhibited high levels of CU traits (n = 11). These children had a greater number and variety of conduct problems, a stronger history of police contacts, and a stronger parental history of antisocial personality disorder, despite being of higher intelligence than other children with significant conduct problems (n = 29). The presence of CU traits with significant conduct problems seems to designate a unique subgroup of antisocial children who show a very severe pattern of antisocial behavior and who correspond more closely to adult conceptualizations of psychopathy.

Integrated Approaches to Preventing Antisocial Behavior Patterns among School-Age Children and Youth

This article provides a reconceptualization of the role of schools in preventing antisocial behavior problems among children and youth. The U.S. Public Health Service's conceptual model of prevention, involving primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention approaches, is used as an organizing framework to illustrate how schools can deliver interventions more effectively and improve outcomes. Traditional school approaches to coping with students who are at risk and antisocial are reviewed, and the following major topics are addressed: (a) A case is made that schools can play a central, coordinating role in collaboration with families and social service agencies in addressing the challenging problems presented by antisocial students; (b) a generic intervention approach is suggested that involves reducing risk factors for antisocial behavior and enhancing protective factors; (c) a three-level approach to organizing specific interventions for achieving prevention goals and outcomes is described; and (d) recommended interventions or approaches are suggested for each prevention level (i.e., primary, secondary, tertiary). The article concludes with a discussion of some factors associated with a revised mission for schools in this domain and how these factors may impair or enhance the necessary changes required to achieve this goal.

Can Violent Offenders be Distinguished from Frequent Offenders: Prediction from Childhood to Adolescence

It was predicted that violent offending at adolescence is part of a general pattern of high-rate antisocial behavior that emerges in childhood. Family characteristics, including family management practices and childhood behavior, were compared for violent adolescent arrestees and nonviolent adolescent arrestees who were matched for arrest frequency. Further, regression analyses were conducted using self-report of violent offending. Also predicted was that multiple arrestees with no arrests for violence would self-report as much violence as multiple arrestees with arrests for violence. Hypotheses were tested on an at-risk sample of males in the Oregon Youth Study (OYS), a multimethod, multiagent longitudinal study. The findings generally supported the contention that violent offenders show the same background as frequent but nonviolent offenders.

Major mental disorder and crime: An overview

Abstract There is now compelling evidence of high rates of criminality and violence among both men and women who suffer from major mental disorders. This evidence comes from prospective follow-up studies of unselected birth cohorts, from follow-up studies of psychiatric patients discharged to the community, and from studies of mental disorders among convicted offenders. These investigations have been conducted in several different countries since policies of deinstitutionalizing the mentally disordered have been implemented. Different explanations of the criminality of subjects with major mental disorders are discussed and evaluated. It is proposed that there are two types of offenders with major mental disorders: the early starter displays a stable pattern of antisocial behaviour from a young age; the late starter begins offending only at about the time the symptoms of the major disorder become apparent. It is hypothesized that the major disorder is not related to the criminality of the early starters, w...

Adult Onset of Severe and Pervasive Antisocial Behavior: A Distinct Syndrome?

Data from the Duke Epidemiologie Catchment Area (ECA) study were used to determine if persons reporting a pervasive pattern of severe adult antisocial behavior always report a similar pattern of antisocial behavior in childhood. Roughly half of persons reporting severe adult antisocial behavior reported onset in adulthood. Adult onset antisocial behavior would not meet criteria for a DSM-IIIR diagnosis, yet childhood and adult onset antisocials differed little in sociodemographic factors, psychiatric comorbidity, antisocial symptom profiles, or severity of the disorder. The nosologie implications of these findings are discussed. Further research is needed to confirm these findings and to determine if the childhood and adult onset anti-socials differ with respect to risk factors, prognosis, and response to treatment; this will help in deciding whether adult onset antisocial behavior warrants a separate diagnostic caterory.

The Effect of Deviance during Adolescence on the Choice of Jobs

Poor performance in school, truancy, stealing, gang involvement, and substance abuse are problems that can affect the achievement of many children and adolescents [12]. Immediate consequences of these behaviors include low levels of educational attainment, the development of mental health problems including drug and alcohol addiction or depression, and involvement in crime. In 1989, 15 percent of those aged 18-21 had not completed high school, 65 percent of those aged 18-25 currently used alcohol and 15 percent smoked marijuana, and the suicide rate among teenagers (15-24) was 5 per 1000 population [22]. Indeed, the current social costs of deviance by adolescents are large. Yet, the immediate social and economic costs are not the only consequences of disruptive adolescent behavior that are of concern to policymakers and social scientists. Of equal concern are the long-run social costs of these behaviors, in particular whether future labor market opportunities and decisions are affected by antisocial behavior patterns displayed during adolescence. Recent research by economists and psychologists suggests that these long-run effects could be significant. Some clinical studies by psychologists have found that conduct-disordered children are more likely to develop antisocial personality disorders as adults than other children [18]. Some indication of the magnitude of the long-run effects of antisocial adolescent behavior can be obtained by linking these results to studies of economic outcomes of mental health. For example, Bartel and Taubman [1; 2] examined the relationship between mental health and earnings using a sample of twins. While they did not focus specifically on antisocial behavior, they did find significant negative consequences of mental health disorders, particularly psychoses, on income. Mullahy and Sindelar [17] found that alcoholism triggered during adolescence negatively affected

Antisocial behavior of intravenous drug abusers: implications for diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder.

A pattern of chronic adult antisocial behavior is not sufficient for the DSM-III-R diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder unless the early-onset criteria are satisfied, even if the adult criteria are met. The utility of the early-onset requirement for the diagnosis was examined in intravenous drug abusers, a population known to have high rates of irresponsible, aggressive, and criminal behavior. The subjects were 237 drug abusers who had volunteered for an outpatient study of psychopathology and HIV risk behavior and infection. They completed a structured psychiatric interview as part of their participation in that study. The adult antisocial behavior of the group that met both the early-onset and the adult criteria for antisocial personality disorder, the group that met only the adult criteria, and the group that met neither the early-onset nor the adult criteria was then compared. Antisocial personality disorder (meeting the early-onset and adult criteria) was diagnosed in 44% of the sample; an additional 24% met only the adult criteria. The group with the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder reported a more pervasive and more serious pattern of adult antisocial behavior than did the other groups, although antisocial behavior was commonplace in all three groups. Early onset of multiple antisocial behaviors identified a subset of drug abusers with important differences in the extent and severity of their adult antisocial behavior. The antisocial behavior of the group that met only the adult criteria suggests the possibility of a late-onset and less severe form of antisocial personality disorder.

Patients with antisocial personality disorder

Antisocial personality disorder is the psychiatric diagnosis most closely linked to explosive and criminal behavior. This diagnosis is easily documented but challenges a clinician's diagnostic skill because of the patient's propensity for masquerade and pathologic lying. The essential feature of antisocial personality disorder is a pattern of irresponsible and antisocial behavior beginning in childhood or early adolescence and continuing into adulthood. The differential diagnosis should include substance abuse, adult antisocial behavior, psychotic and organic illness, and other personality disorders. Suggested medical and psychiatric treatment includes rapidly establishing firm behavior limits and performing a mental status examination to evaluate thought processes and suicidal and homicidal intent.

Overt and covert antisocial behavior: Child and family characteristics among psychiatric inpatient children

The present study examined child and family characteristics associated with overt and covert antisocial child behaviors. Child psychiatric inpatients (N=258, ages 6–13) were identified as high in overt and/or covert antisocial behaviors (e.g., aggression and stealing, respectively) based on a structured parent interview measuring antisocial behavior. Children were classified into four groups derived from the factorial combination of level of overt (high vs. low) and covert (high vs. low) antisocial behaviors. Analyses were made of the children's reactions to hostile and anger-provoking situations, deviant and prosocial child behaviors at home and at school, and family structure and organization. Children higher in overt antisocial behaviors were more negative, resentful, and irritable in their reactions to hostile situations and more aggressive at school. They came from families with significantly greater conflict and less independence among family members. Children higher in covert antisocial behavior participated in fewer social activities and were higher in anxiety; their families showed significantly lower family cohesion and organization and less of an emphasis on moral-religious values. The results suggest reliable differences in child and family functioning as a function of patterns of overt and covert antisocial behavior.

Intergenerational effects--a review of environmentally oriented studies concerning the relationship between parental alcohol problems and family disharmony in the genesis of alcohol and other problems. II: The intergenerational effects of family disharmony.

This paper is the second in a two-part series. In this paper the literature on the intergenerational transmission of family disharmony is reviewed from an environmental perspective. It is concluded that there is considerable evidence that children who grow up in a home which has a discordant atmosphere are at higher risk of developing a number of childhood problems and disorders than are comparison children. It is also clear that particularly likely outcomes for boys are antisocial behavior patterns and conduct disorder. The evidence also suggests that adults raised in a discordant atmosphere are still at high risk of developing a variety of problems once they reach adulthood. It is suggested that the negative effects of having a problem-drinking parent are mediated via family disharmony, and that in the absence of such disharmony the offspring will not be damaged. Suggestions are made for further research.

Longitudinal Prediction of the School Achievement, Adjustment, and Delinquency of Antisocial Versus At-Risk Boys

This study investigated the efficacy of selected home and school setting variables as predictors of school achievement, adjustment, and delinquency in an ongoing longitudinal study of antisocial and at-risk boys (Patterson, 1983; Walker, Shinn, O'Neill, & Ramsey, 1987). Three construct scores (one derived primarily from school data sources and two from home setting data sources) along with two discrete observation codes recorded on families served as predictors in this study. Criterion variables to be predicted included math, reading, total achievement, receiving special education services, and delinquency. The predictor variables were all recorded when the subjects were in the fourth grade; the criterion variables were recorded when they were in the seventh grade. The resulting multiple Rs ranged from .50 for delinquency to .81 for math achievement. No more than two predictor variables were used in each of the regression analyses. Results are discussed in terms of the importance of assessing both the school and home environments of students at risk for behavioral adjustment problems that involve antisocial behavior patterns.

A follow-up investigation of offspring of parents with bipolar disorder

Seven male children who each had a manic-depressive parent (five alos had a parent with unipolar depression) and 12 control children were studied. The proband children had shown a range of adjustment problems as infants and toddlers. Four years later, they continued to have substantial behavior problems, including ones that could be classified as DSM-III psychiatric diagnoses. On the basis of psychiatric interviews and psychological assessments, the proband children received more DSM-III diagnoses than the control children. Proband children reported internalizing symptoms; this pattern was corroborated by their mothers, who also characterized these children as showing antisocial behavior patterns.

Comparison of specific patterns of antisocial behavior in children with conduct disorder with or without coexisting hyperactivity.

Comparison of specific patterns of antisocial behavior in children with conduct disorder with or without coexisting hyperactivity.

Comparison of specific patterns of antisocial behavior in children with conduct disorder with or without coexisting hyperactivity.

Comparison of specific patterns of antisocial behavior in children with conduct disorder with or without coexisting hyperactivity.