Trajectories of Youthful Antisocial Behavior: Categories or Continua?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine whether qualitatively distinct trajectories of antisocial behavior could be identified in 1,708 children (843 boys, 865 girls) from the 1979 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Data (NLSY-C). Repeated ratings were made on the Behavior Problems Index (BPI: Peterson and Zill Journal of Marriage and the Family, 48, 295-307, 1986) antisocial scale by the mothers of these children when the children were 6, 8, 10, 12, and 14 years of age. Scores on three indicators constructed from the six BPI Antisocial items (callousness, aggression, noncompliance) were then analyzed longitudinally (by summing across the rating periods) and cross-sectionally (by testing each individual rating period) in the full sample as well as in subsamples of boys and girls. Results obtained with the mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC), maximum covariance (MAXCOV), and latent mode factor analysis (L-Mode) taxometric procedures revealed consistent evidence of continuous latent structure despite the fact Growth Mixture Modeling (GMM) and Latent Class Growth Analysis (LCGA) identified between two and eight trajectories, depending on the stopping rule, in the three antisocial indicators. From these results, it is concluded that the structural model underlying these data is better represented as continuous rather than as categorical. The implications of these results for future research on developmental trajectories of antisocial behavior are discussed.

The neurobiological basis of human aggression: A review on genetic and epigenetic mechanisms

“…Therefore, studies have been performed to delineate if pathological aggression lies on a continuum with general AB, or if categorical models of pathological versus physiological aggression fit empirical data in a better way. Results of these studies clearly indicate that the continuum model fits better to the observed behavior in children and adolescents [Walton et al, ; Barry et al, ; Walters and Ruscio, ]. Thus, “pathological” AB needs to be conceptualized as the extreme of a normal distribution of AB in the general population.…”

DSM-IV Antisocial Personality Disorder and Conduct Disorder: Evidence for Taxonic Structures Among Individuals With and Without Substance Use Disorders in the General Population

“…DSM-IV diagnoses of ASPD, derived from the Semi-Structured Assessment for the Genetics of Alcoholism (Bucholz et al, 1994), were found to be dimensional. In two recent studies (Walters, 2011;Walters and Ruscio, 2013), caregivers completed the Behavioral Problems Index (Peterson and Zill, 1986) measuring, in part, childhood antisocial behaviors found in DSM-IV CD, for youths participating in the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth-Child Data (Center for Human Resource Research, 2009). In these two studies, CD was better represented as continuous rather than categorical.…”

Is Adolescent Suicidal Ideation Continuous or Categorical? A Taxometric Analysis

“…CCFI values range from 0 (dimensional structure) to 1 (taxonic structure), with .50 being equally supportive of dimensional and taxonic structures (Ruscio et al, 2010). CCFI values between .45 and .55 must be interpreted with caution as they are indicative of ambiguous results (Walters & Ruscio, 2013). The CCFI is a relatively recent development in taxometric research, but an important one that appears to have resulted in appreciably reduced rates of spurious taxa in the taxometric literature (Haslam et al, 2012).…”