Citation

Leaw JN, Ang RP, Huan VS, Chan WT, Cheong SA. PLoS One 2015; 10(6): e0126752.

Affiliation

Division of Physics and Applied Physics, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, 21 Nanyang Link, Singapore 637371; Complexity Institute, Nanyang Technological University, 60 Nanyang View, Singapore 639673.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2015, Public Library of Science)

DOI

10.1371/journal.pone.0126752

PMID

26062022

Abstract

Moffitt's theory of delinquency suggests that at-risk youths can be divided into two groups, the adolescence- limited group and the life-course-persistent group, predetermined at a young age, and social interactions between these two groups become important during the adolescent years. We built an agent-based model based on the microscopic interactions Moffitt described: (i) a maturity gap that dictates (ii) the cost and reward of antisocial behavior, and (iii) agents imitating the antisocial behaviors of others more successful than themselves, to find indeed the two groups emerging in our simulations. Moreover, through an intervention simulation where we moved selected agents from one social network to another, we also found that the social network plays an important role in shaping the life course outcome.

Language: en