The interaction between impulsivity and neighborhood context on offending: The effects of impulsivity are stronger in poorer neighborhoods.

Abstract

This research blends 2 traditions of theorizing on the causes of crime, one focused on the role of individual differences and the other focused on structural and contextual variables. Two related studies examined the relations among impulsivity, neighborhood context, and juvenile offending. The first, cross-sectional study uses a large sample of 13-year-old inner-city boys, whereas the second, longitudinal study offers a conceptual replication using 17-year-old inner-city boys who are a subset of the original sample. Across both studies, results indicate that the effects of impulsivity on juvenile offending are stronger in poorer neighborhoods. Furthermore, nonimpulsive boys in poor neighborhoods were at no greater risk for delinquency than nonimpulsive boys in better-off neighborhoods. In this article, we bring together two major traditions of theorizing about the causes of antisocial behavior. The first tradition, with strong links to psychology and psychiatry, seeks to explain crime by using the individual characteristics of offenders. Theories in this tradition suggest that individuals commit crimes because they possess certain psychological qualities that make them more liable to commit crime. Such accounts are identifiable as early as the turn of the 19th century, when psychiatrists described pyromania and kleptomania as distorted personality constellations (Binder, 1987). Modern theorists have linked criminal offending to

Risk Factors for Community Violence Exposure in Adolescence

“…Subsequent research with this population will include examination of broader contextual factors (e.g., neighborhood characteristics) that are known to have implications for youth behavior, parenting strategies, and peer affiliation, and are important for understanding youth exposure to community violence. Economic and social characteristics of neighborhoods, as well as the level of crime or violence in the neighborhood, may affect aggressive behavior, peer affiliation, and parent management strategies (Ingoldsby & Shaw, 2002); these neighborhood characteristics may also moderate vulnerability to maladjustment in risky contexts (Lynam et al, 2000). Similarly, perceptions of neighborhood safety and neighborhood affiliation may influence adolescent behavior and the propensity to engage in risky, violent behavior, or be in dangerous settings (PerezSmith, Albus, & Weist, 2001).…”

Belief in a Just World and Commitment to Long-Term Deserved Outcomes

“…We decided to use this measure instead of a measure of delinquency (as in Hafer, 2000b, Study 2) because we were concerned that, given the relation between antisocial behavior and impulsivity (e.g., Harpur et al, 1989;Luengo et al, 1994;Lynam et al, 2000;White et al, 1994), our previous results using the delinquency scale may have simply been due to overlap between the delinquency scale and long-term focus. Thus, we wanted a variable that, while tapping into a commitment to deserving one's outcomes, would not overlap with long-term goal striving.…”

Behavioural Stimulation and Sensation-Seeking among prisoners: Applications to substance dependency

“…Thus, in samples where there are known to be increased levels of sensation-seeking and impulsivity (e.g. Horvath & Zuckerman, 1992;Lynam et al, 2000), such as prisoners, it appears these variables can be reliably distinguished.…”

“…Impulsivity and sensation-seeking have certainly been shown to relate to a range of criminal behaviours (e.g. Horvath & Zuckerman, 1992;Lynam et al, 2000), highlighting the importance of examining these constructs and their association with substance use in a forensic population.…”