The Heterogeneity in the Development of Homotypic and Heterotypic Antisocial Behavior

Abstract

Introduction This study aimed to contribute to the existing literature by testing whether the same classes of antisocial behavior typically uncovered in the literature would be revealed with the additional information about heterotypic antisocial behavior. We investigated the development of men's antisocial behavior in its homotypic and heterotypic forms from age 12 to 30 years in a large representative sample. Material and methods Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. This study included 3639 male participants from 6 birth cohorts (1977)(1978)(1979)(1980)(1981)(1982), first assessed in 1995 and followed up to [2008][2009]. Homotypic antisocial behavior comprised items that were assessed at every wave, and heterotypic antisocial behavior comprised adolescent-and adult-specific items. Group-based modeling was used to identify classes of antisocial behavior. Results Five trajectories were identified: low, life-course-persistent, adolescent-limited, moderate declining, and adult-peak. Conclusion By including heterotypic items, we showed that a group whose antisocial behavior is typically identified as emerging in adulthood was already engaging in moderate levels of antisocial behavior in adolescence. The implications of sample characteristics and forms of antisocial behavior for accurate classification are discussed.

Parenthood Residency Status and Criminal Desistance across Neighborhood Contexts

“…During the third and fourth waves, respondents were asked about whether they had engaged in criminal behavior in the past 12 months. The criminal behavior measures change from the first and second waves to the third and fourth waves to reflect heterotypic continuity in offending over time, which more accurately captures patterns of long-term offending (Chen and Jaffee 2015). Criminal behavior includes both nonviolent and violent crimes such as “steal something worth more than $50,” “deliberately damage property that didn’t belong to you,” “buy, sell, or hold stolen property,” “you shot or stabbed someone,” “you go into a serious physical fight,” and “you pulled a knife or gun on someone.” Respondents who reported committing any criminal behavior in the third and fourth waves were categorized as criminally persistent and serve as the reference group for all models.…”

Life-Course-Persistent Antisocial Behavior

“…However, it is now clear that many individuals with adolescent-onset antisocial behavior continue their antisocial behavior into adulthood [16], though the level of AL's continuing antisocial behavior is much less than that of LCP's. For example, the Dunedin study found that official (court) convictions for violence for males at age 32, which tend to reflect more serious kinds of violence than self-reported violence [7], were much more frequent for LCP than AL individuals: 33% vs. 8% [25]. Indeed, the LCP individuals accounted for 72% of the months spend in jail for the entire male cohort in the study [25].…”

“…The two decades plus of research since 1993 has provided overwhelming support for a category of a small group of individuals who engage in early starting, persistent antisocial behavior and who tend to have more risk factors for antisocial behavior than any other group [3,7,8,[15][16][17][18]. The trajectory of offending of individuals in this category has been concisely summarized by Le Blanc [18].…”

“…The childhood limited group refers to children who despite exhibiting extreme and pervasive antisocial behavior do not continue to exhibit such high levels of antisocial behavior into adolescence or adulthood, though they may engage in less serious antisocial behavior and exhibit other forms of maladjustment [7][8][9]. Although there are too few studies to date to yield any reliable findings on the characteristics of the members of this group, there is some preliminary evidence that these children in contrast to the LCP group are less subject to harsh parenting, less likely to have a family history of psychiatric disorder, and possess higher levels of social and linguistic competence [7]. In the adult onset group, there is some evidence that high nervousness and few friends in adolescence may have deferred the onset of these individual's offending until early adulthood [5].…”

Delinquency in Emerging Adulthood: Insights into Trajectories of Young Adults in a German Sample and Implications for Measuring Continuity of Offending

“…Secondly, another issue concerning the measurement of delinquency is that of its continuity. Hitherto, longitudinal studies, which encompass several developmental periods, used-if at all-either of two strategies to maintain continuity of measurement: items were adapted across the age span to ensure that the measures were developmentally appropriate (e. g., Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study; see Odgers et al 2008) or studies included new items with ageappropriate acts of delinquency (e.g., National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; see Chen and Jaffee 2015). If the composition of items does not change at all, homotypic continuity is assumed.…”