Childhood Social Predictors of Adolescent Antisocial Behavior: Gender Differences in Predictive Accuracy and Efficacy

This study examined the ability of several childhood, school-based, social variables to correctly classify antisocial adolescents. Children (N = 314; 163 boys, 151 girls) in the 3rd–5th grade were assessed on academic and social variables (i.e., peer rejection, aggression, withdrawal, and low prosocial behavior) and followed forward for 6–7 years until the 9th and 10th grade. Adolescent antisocial outcomes included a consensus measure formed from diagnostic interviews, contact with juvenile authorities, adolescent self-report, and mother's report. The gender-differential predictive accuracy and efficacy of the early predictor domains to a consensus measure of antisocial behavior were compared with the same estimates found for adolescent self-report of antisocial behavior. Both gender and criterion-method differences were found. For girls, regardless of the measure of antisocial behavior, early academic problems were the strongest predictors of future problems. For boys' self-reported antisocial outcomes, peer rejection was the strongest independent predictor. For consensus-reported antisocial outcomes, both early fighting–anger and withdrawn behavior displayed equally strong predictive relations. For boys, the combination of early fighting–anger and disruptive and withdrawn behavior was the strongest set of predictors for the consensus measure of antisocial functioning. Predictive accuracy and efficacy estimates are discussed in terms of predictive strength as well as the cost–benefit of misidentification.     

Course of Antisocial Behavior during Emerging Adulthood: Developmental Differences in Personality

Despite similar normative changes in antisocial behavior (AB) and traits of disinhibition and negative emotionality during "emerging adulthood," few studies have tested if there are developmental differences in personality over this period for distinct courses of AB. In a college cohort assessed at ages 18 and 25, we examined if mean-level changes on traits from the Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire varied by course of AB. Compared to persisters, those who desisted in AB from 18 to 25 exhibited a larger decrease on novelty seeking and larger increase on reward dependence. A significant mean-level decline was observed for harm avoidance, but was unrelated to AB course. Findings support theories of the co-development of personality and AB during emerging adulthood.     

Aggression and Fire: Antisocial Behavior in Firesetting and Nonfiresetting Juvenile Offenders

This study examined the association between firesetting and antisocial behavior in 219 juvenile offenders. The study showed, through a series of a priori model comparisons using confirmatory factor analysis, that reliable data on both firesetting (n = 85) and nonfiresetting (n = 134) juvenile offenders best fit a 3-factor model composed of aggressive, nonaggressive, and oppositional antisocial behavior. Although the same general structure of antisocial behavior best fit the data for both groups, the firesetting group exhibited a significantly higher variety and frequency of aggressive and total antisocial acts and an earlier age of index arrest. It is argued that results from this study support a conceptualization of firesetting as accompanying serious and versatile antisocial behavior. Consistency with an early starter pattern of antisocial behavior among firesetting offenders is noted, and evidence suggesting that firesetting is indicative of developmentally advanced, serious, and varied antisocial behavior among troubled youth is discussed.     

Preliminary evidence that specific candidate genes are associated with adolescent-onset antisocial behavior

Though initially conceptualized as resulting from peer imitation of child-onset or life-course-persistent youth [Moffitt, 1993], there is mounting evidence from twin studies that adolescent-onset or adolescent-limited antisocial behavior may also be genetically influenced. This study sought to provide preliminary molecular genetic evidence in support of these findings. We further evaluated whether genetic associations varied between behavioral subtypes of ASB (i.e., physical aggression and nonaggressive rule-breaking), given that only the latter has been found to characterize adolescent-onset ASB. The sample consisted of 211 undergraduate men of European-American ancestry. Three polymorphisms with theoretical and/or empirical ties to ASB or related traits (i.e., tryptophan hydroxylase-A218C, 5HT(2A) His452Tyr, and the DAT1 variable nucleotide tandem repeat) were genotyped. Analyses revealed that two of the three polymorphisms (i.e., His452Tyr and DAT1) were associated with adolescent ASB. Moreover, these associations appeared to be specific to the nonaggressive, rule-breaking form of ASB, and did not extend to physical aggression, further supporting ties to adolescent ASB in particular. Such results thus constructively replicate earlier findings of genetic influence on adolescent ASB. They also offer preliminary evidence that the genetic processes underlying aggressive and nonaggressive antisocial behavior may be (at least partially) distinct.     

Overt and Covert Dimensions of Antisocial Behavior in Early Childhood

The present study was designed to assess both the prevalence and structure of antisocial behavior in a normative sample of preschoolers. Prevalence estimates suggested that 40% of preschoolers exhibit at least one antisocial behavior each day. Furthermore, 10% of preschoolers exhibit six or more antisocial behaviors each day. Consistent with research based on older children, factor analyses provided support for conceptualizing antisocial behavior in early childhood as consisting of both overt and covert dimensions. While both overt and covert behaviors had acceptable test–retest reliability, only overt behaviors had acceptable interrater reliability. Finally both overt and covert dimensions of antisocial behavior were uniquely related to general measures of conduct problems, hyperactivity, and adult and peer conflict in the classroom setting. Findings are discussed with regard to early assessment and the developmental course of antisocial behavior.     

Association of Normative Beliefs and Anger with Aggression and Antisocial Behavior in Russian Male Juvenile Offenders and High School Students

Examined the association of anger experience and two types of normative beliefs with physical aggression and nonaggressive antisocial behavior in 361 juvenile offenders and 206 high school students in Russia. All participants were male and ranged in age from 14 to 18 years. Higher frequency of aggressive acts was significantly associated with higher levels of anger and stronger beliefs that physical aggression is an appropriate course of action in conflicts. After statistically controlling for nonaggressive antisocial behavior, the relationship between physical aggression and antisocial beliefs was not significant. Similarly, with physical aggression controlled, nonaggressive antisocial behavior was uniquely associated with approval of deviancy, but not with anger or beliefs legitimizing aggression. Juvenile offenders reported higher levels of anger experience and higher frequency of aggression and antisocial behavior compared to high school students. There were no differences in normative beliefs between these two groups. This specificity of association of social-cognitive and emotion-regulation processes to aggressive and nonaggressive forms of antisocial behavior may be relevant to understanding the mechanisms of cognitive-behavioral therapy for conduct disorder and antisocial behavior.     

Do aggression and rule‐breaking have different interpersonal correlates? A study of antisocial behavior subtypes,negative affect,and hostile perceptions of others

There is mounting evidence that physical aggression and nonaggressive, rule‐breaking delinquency constitute two separable though correlated subtypes of antisocial behavior. Even so, it remains unclear whether these behavioral subtypes have meaningfully different interpersonal correlates, particularly as they are subsumed within the same broad domain of antisocial behavior. To evaluate this, we examined whether hostile perceptions of others (assessed via exposure to a series of neutral unknown faces) were linked to level and type of antisocial behavior aggression vs. rule‐breaking, and moreover, whether this association persisted even when also considering the common association with negative affect (as manipulated via written recollection of one's best and worst life experiences). Analyses revealed that aggression, but not rule‐breaking, was uniquely tied to hostile perceptions of others. Furthermore, this association persisted over and above the common association of both hostile perceptions and aggression with negative affect (at both trait and state levels). Such results provide additional support for clinically meaningful differences between the behavioral subtypes of aggression and nonaggressive rule‐breaking and for the independent role of hostile perceptions in aggressive behavior. Aggr. Behav. 35:453–461, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

An Introduction to the Special Issue on Advances in Process and Dynamic System Analysis of Social Interaction and the Development of Antisocial Behavior

A thorough understanding of how social relationships contribute to child and adolescent trajectories for antisocial behavior may be facilitated by: (a) ascertaining multiple relationship processes (e.g., warmth and reciprocity, coercion and deviancy training); (b) focusing on multiple relationships (e.g., with parents, peers, siblings, and teachers): and (c) assessing relationship processes using increasingly sophisticated measurement and theoretical models (e.g., global ratings and sequential and dynamical systems analyses) of observed microsocial interaction. The reports comprising this special issue, and how they build on and advance previous research efforts, are described from this frame of reference.     

Understanding Mechanisms of Change in the Development of Antisocial Behavior: The Impact of a Universal Intervention

The association between the development of antisocial behavior, affiliation with deviant friends, and peer rejection was tested with a preventive intervention; 664 boys and girls were randomly assigned to a universal classroom-based intervention targeting disruptive behavior or a control condition. Peer nominations of antisocial behavior, friends' antisocial behavior, and peer rejection were assessed annually for 4 years. A high, a moderate, and a stable low antisocial behavior trajectory were identified. Large reductions in antisocial behavior were found among intervention children who followed the high trajectory. These reductions coincided with affiliations with nondeviant peers and with decreases in peer rejection. The affiliation between deviant and nondeviant peers was initiated by nondeviant children. The results support a causal role of deviant friends and peer rejection in the development of antisocial behavior. The implications for our understanding of the mechanisms leading to reductions in antisocial behavior are discussed.     

Maternal Predictors of Rejecting Parenting and Early Adolescent Antisocial Behavior

The present study examined relations among maternal psychological resources, rejecting parenting, and early adolescent antisocial behavior in a sample of 231 low-income mothers and their sons with longitudinal assessments from age 18 months to 12 years. The maternal resources examined were age at first birth, aggressive personality, and empathy. Each of the maternal resources predicted rejecting parenting during early childhood in structural equation models that controlled for toddler difficult temperament, and rejecting parenting in early childhood predicted antisocial behavior in early adolescence. Rejecting parenting accounted for the indirect effect of each of the maternal resources on antisocial behavior, but a direct effect was also supported between maternal aggressive personality and youth antisocial behavior. Results highlight the importance of these relatively understudied maternal resources and have implications for prevention and intervention programs that focus on parenting during early childhood.     

反社会行为的遗传基础:基因多态性和DNA甲基化

反社会行为是受遗传与环境共同影响的不良行为。分子遗传学和神经生物学的研究发现,基因以基因多态性和DNA甲基化的方式影响脑结构、功能及脑内神经递质的产生和释放,进而影响反社会行为的发生发展。本文从基因多态性和DNA甲基化两方面整理了5-HTT、MAOA、OXTR等8个候选基因与反社会行为的关联。并提出未来研究需进一步探讨基因、脑和神经递质对反社会行为的联合作用。同时,扩展多基因位点、基因多态性与DNA甲基化、积极环境与基因交互作用对反社会行为影响的研究,以全面探索反社会行为发生的遗传基础,进而更加有效的预防反社会行为。     

反社会行为的遗传基础:基因多态性和DNA甲基化

反社会行为是受遗传与环境共同影响的不良行为。分子遗传学和神经生物学的研究发现,基因以基因多态性和DNA甲基化的方式影响脑结构、功能及脑内神经递质的产生和释放,进而影响反社会行为的发生发展。本文从基因多态性和DNA甲基化两方面整理了5-HTT、MAOA、OXTR等8个候选基因与反社会行为的关联。并提出未来研究需进一步探讨基因、脑和神经递质对反社会行为的联合作用。同时,扩展多基因位点、基因多态性与DNA甲基化、积极环境与基因交互作用对反社会行为影响的研究,以全面探索反社会行为发生的遗传基础,进而更加有效的预防反社会行为。     

反社会行为潜在遗传因素的全基因组关联分析

反社会行为是一种受基因和环境共同影响的复杂性行为, 但单个基因如单胺氧化酶基因(MAOA)、5-羟色胺转运体启动因子基因(5-HTT)、儿茶酚-o-甲基转移酶(COMT)基因的影响并不能全面解释其产生的分子遗传机制。来自分子遗传学研究取向的方法—— 全基因组关联分析(genome-wide association study, GWAS), 把人类基因组中数以百万计的单核苷酸(SNPs)和复制数变异(CNVs)作为遗传标记, 在全基因组层面上, 开展多中心、大样本的关联研究, 经过反复验证来发现与外在表型相关的基因位点, 为进一步了解反社会行为复杂分子遗传机制提供了重要的线索。未来的研究应该通过科学的实验设计将精确的基因分型技术与心理、环境因素相结合, 实现对复杂性行为或特质的基因-心理-环境模型的成因性分析。     

俄勒冈社会学习中心反社会行为预防与干预研究述评

简要回顾了美国俄勒冈社会学习中心的发展历程,重点介绍了该机构的主要研究课题内容和研究成果。该中心在应用研究领域,主要是针对问题儿童在课堂场景及其家中进行干预。其基础性研究致力于家庭、同伴以及社会背景对青少年行为发展模式的长期影响。俄勒冈社会学习中心针对青少年开展的早期经验、应激神经生理学和病原学的研究,以及以家庭、学校、福利制度、司法制度等背景开展的对收养家庭养育、受虐孩子、受监禁父母的孩子、问题青少年反社会行为的预防与干预研究对我国青少年的干预研究都富有借鉴意义     

农村留守儿童的抑郁和反社会行为:日常积极事件的保护作用

以来自河南省农村的410名农村留守儿童(双亲外出和单亲外出)和非留守儿童为被试,考察了日常烦恼这一危险因素与儿童抑郁、反社会行为的关系,并探讨了日常积极事件在其中的保护作用。结果表明,儿童经历的日常烦恼越多,其抑郁和反社会行为水平越高。日常积极事件表现出了对儿童抑郁和反社会行为的改善效应,但是因儿童留守类别的不同而不同:日常积极事件对单亲外出儿童和非留守儿童抑郁的改善效应较强,对双亲外出儿童反社会行为的改善效应较强。此外,日常积极事件还可以有效抵抗日常烦恼对儿童反社会行为的不利影响。     

Adolescent Friendship as a Dynamic System: Entropy and Deviance in the Etiology and Course of Male Antisocial Behavior

A dynamic systems framework was applied to understand the influence of friendship on antisocial behavior from childhood (age 9-10) through adulthood (age 24-25) for Oregon Youth Study males (N = 206). Boys were videotaped interacting with a friend at ages 14, 16, and 18, and deviant content and interpersonal processes were independently coded. Conditional dyadic interpersonal processes were studied as a communication system and summarized by an index of information entropy (F. Attneave, 1959). High entropy scores represent disorganized, unpredictable patterns of interaction, whereas low entropy scores reflect an organized dialogue. Conversations of early-onset antisocial boys and their best friends were less organized and included more deviant content than those of well-adjusted controls. Prediction analyses, however, revealed an interaction between entropy and deviant talk. Consistent with expectation, males with well-organized interactions (i.e., low entropy) but elevated levels of deviant content were most likely to continue antisocial behavior into adulthood. Findings suggest that individual risk for maladaptation may be amplified by early adolescent friendship dynamics organized around deviance.     

A Meta-Analysis of the Distinction between Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Children and Adolescents

The present meta-analytic review aimed to clarify divergent findings concerning the relation between reactive and proactive aggression in children and adolescents. Fifty-one studies with 17,965 participants were included in the analysis. A significant correlation between reactive and proactive aggression was found. The strength of this relation varied considerably between studies, from -.10 to .89. Observational assessment and tilt/noise tasks were associated with smaller correlations than questionnaires. Within the large group of questionnaire studies, studies disentangling the form and function of aggression found lower correlations than studies that did not disentangle form and function. Among questionnaire studies, higher reliability was associated with larger correlations. Effect size did not depend on other study characteristics such as sample type, age, and informant type. It is concluded that reactive and proactive aggression are most clearly distinguished with behavioral observations and questionnaires that unravel form and functions of aggression.     

Interpersonal Relationships and Sex Differences in the Development of Conduct Problems

This article investigates the role of interpersonal relationships in shaping sex differences in the manifestation, etiology, and developmental course of conduct problems and their treatment needs. The review examines whether: (1) Girls conduct problems are more likely than boys to manifest as a function of disrupted relationships with caretakers and peers; (2) For girls more than for boys, the outcomes of conduct problems in adolescence and adulthood, and related treatment needs, are more likely to be a consequence of the quality of interpersonal relationships with others, particularly opposite-sex peers and partners. Evidence reviewed suggests that boys and girls share many similarities in their expression of conduct problems, but that a relational perspective does unify important differences. There is fair evidence that girls with conduct problems are more likely to come to the attention of authorities because of chaotic, unstable family relationships, and to express antisocial behavior in the context of close relationships; there is stronger evidence that the course and outcomes of conduct problems in females versus males pertain to interpersonal relationship impairments. Those sex differences map onto specific differences in treatment needs. Further empirical testing of the proposed relational model is indicated.     

Validation of the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire: A tool for measuring cyclists' road behaviors

IntroductionEven though cycling is an activity whose benefits in terms of urban mobility and health are globally recognized, its disproportional growth during the past few decades has led to some unexpected dynamics. In fact, the increasing number of traffic injuries and deaths involving cyclists has a high cost for public health systems. Considering the available empirical evidence, aberrant and positive behaviors on the road constitute relevant predictors for the injuries suffered by road users. Nevertheless, the scarcity of tools that measure and evaluate the behavior of road users, especially in the case of cyclists, constitutes a serious lack in terms of explaining, intervening and preventing traffic crashes through behavioral approaches.ObjectiveThis study had two essential purposes: first, to describe in detail the validation of measurement of risky and positive road user behaviors of cyclists using the Cycling Behavior Questionnaire. Second, to compare the mean scores of the validated version of the CBQ according to demographic and cycling-related factors.MethodAs a part of a larger collaborative research project, our data was collected from 1064 Spanish-speaking cyclists (between 17 and 80 years old) from 20 countries, who filled out an anonymous electronic survey on their riding behaviors. The data was analyzed using competitive Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA), thus obtaining basic psychometric values and an optimized structure for the scale.ResultsThe obtained results suggest that the CBQ has a clear factorial structure, items with high factorial weight, and good internal consistency. In particular, the results of the latent variable model with three factors, which were labeled errors, violations and positive behaviors, show that the CBQ is satisfactorily adjusted.ConclusionThe findings of this research support the idea that the CBQ may have important applications in the improvement of road safety through the study of cyclists' behavioral factors and their relationship to demographic and cycling-related factors.