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Abstract
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The Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development is a prospective longitudinal survey of 411 London males from ages 8 years old to 32 years old. This article investigates the prediction of adolescent aggression (ages 12-14 years old), teenage violence (ages 16-18 years old), adult violence (age 32 years old), and convictions for violence. Generally, the best predictors were measures of economic deprivation, family criminality, poor child-rearing, school failure, hyperactivity-impulsivity-attention deficit, and antisocial child behavior. Similar predictors applied to all four measures of aggression and violence. It is concluded that aggression and violence are elements of a more general antisocial tendency, and that the predictors of aggression and violence are similar to the predictors of antisocial and criminal behavior in general.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The purpose of this article by Farrington was to explore factors that were thought to predispose young males to violent behavior and examine those factors that were predictive.
METHODOLOGY:
The author conducted a quasi-experimental prospective longitudinal survey of 411 males aged 8 to 32, to explore predictive variables for adolescent aggression and adult violence. The research covered a span of 24 years. The sample was gathered from a working class area in London. Psychologists tested boys at ages 8, 10, and 14 in their schools. These tests included measures of intelligence, school attainment, personality, and psychomotor impulsiveness. At ages 16, 18, and 21 the boys were interviewed at the project's research office. At approximately ages 25 and 32 the subjects were interviewed in their homes by young male social science graduate students. Interviews gathered information on employment histories, heterosexual relationships, leisure activities, offending behavior, and living circumstances. Female social workers interviewed the subjects' parents at the boys' home once every year from ages 8 until ages 14 and 15. These parental interviews collected information about family income, size of family, employment histories, child rearing practices, boys' temporary or permanent separation from parents, and the degree of parental supervision of boys. Questionnaires were given to the boys' teachers when the boys were approximately ages 8, 10, 12, and 14. These questionnaires asked about the boy's attention deficit, their aggressive and disorderly behavior, school achievements, and their truancy. The authors also obtained measures of the boys daring, dishonesty, propensity for trouble, and popularity from their peers. The Criminal Record Office in London was searched to locate guilty verdicts of the subjects, their parents, their wives and cohabitees. Only the most serious criminal offense on each day was counted. Criminality was also measured by self-reports obtained from the subjects from age 14 and up. At ages 8, 10, 12, and 14, measures of aggression were derived from the teachers' questionnaire. Using this instrument, aggression was defined as those who were difficult to discipline. At ages 16, 18, and 32, aggression measures were derived from self-reports. Aggressive youths referred to those who most frequently admitted carrying and using weapons, getting into fights, and starting fights. Four categories of aggression and violence were examined in this study: adolescent aggression at ages 12-14; teenage violence at ages 16-18; adult violence at age 32; and convictions of violence between ages 10 and 32. The author used 2x2 contingency tables to examine the data and used stepwise multivariate multiple regression to explore the independent relationship between predictors and measures of aggression and violence.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
There was a significant difference between low income males and the other males in their teenage violence measures. Forty-two percent of low income males were violent as teenagers while only 27% of the remaining group were violent as teenagers. Low income males were more likely to be found to be convicted of violent crimes when compared to the remaining males in the study. Poor housing significantly predicted adolescent aggression and teenage violence. Large family size was found to predict teenage violence and convictions for violence. Low socioeconomic status predicted convictions for violence. Subjects who had convicted parents, delinquent siblings, and siblings with behavior problems had significantly higher rates of convictions for violence. Convicted parents predicted adolescent aggression and teenage violence. Low verbal intelligence, low nonverbal intelligence, low junior high school attainment, and low secondary school tracking placement, significantly predicted adolescent aggression and convictions for violence. All four measures of aggression were significantly predicted by the childhood daring factor. Adolescent violence was predicted by the "daring" measure as determined by peer perceptions. Predictive social background measures at age 14 included poor housing, large family size, and parental disharmony. At ages 8-10, important predictors of aggression were placed by the author into six categories: economic deprivation, family criminality, poor child rearing, school failure, hyperactivity-impulsivity, and antisocial child behavior.
AUTHOR'S RECOMMENDATIONS:
The author recommended that future research be done to test explanations and prevention techniques of violent behavior.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
KW - Longitudinal Studies
KW - Violence Predictors
KW - England
KW - Countries Other Than USA
KW - Male Aggression
KW - Male Offender
KW - Male Violence
KW - Aggression Causes
KW - Aggression Predictors
KW - Aggression Risk Factors
KW - Juvenile Aggression
KW - Juvenile Male
KW - Adult Male
KW - Adult Offender
KW - Adult Violence
KW - Violence Risk Factors
KW - Violence Predictors
KW - Violence Causes
Language: en |