Why are females rarely antisocial and males antisocial so often? This is one of the key questions addressed in a fresh approach to sex differences in the causes, course and consequences of antisocial behavior. A multidisciplinary team of authors present all-new findings from the landmark Dunedin Longitudinal Study and also provide new insights into such topics as the importance of puberty, diagnostic issues in psychiatry, the problem of domestic violence and the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior.
Author(s): Terrie E. Moffitt, Avshalom Caspi, Michael Rutter, Phil A. Silva
Series: Cambridge Studies in Criminology
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Year: 2001
Language: English
Pages: 300
Cover......Page 1
Half-title......Page 3
Series-title......Page 5
Title......Page 7
Copyright......Page 8
Dedication......Page 9
Contents......Page 11
Figures......Page 13
Tables......Page 14
Preface......Page 17
Acknowledgements......Page 19
CHAPTER ONE Introduction......Page 21
Description of the study design......Page 22
Sex differences in the amount of antisocial behaviour......Page 23
Sex differences in the developmental course of antisocial behaviour......Page 24
Testing for sex differences in developmental processes......Page 25
Possible causes of sex differences in antisocial behaviour......Page 26
Sex-typed adult developmental outcomes......Page 27
Synthesis and recommendations for future research......Page 28
Sample......Page 30
Assessment procedures......Page 32
Structure of the data set for measuring antisocial behaviours......Page 33
Sample attrition and missing data......Page 36
Social context......Page 37
URBANIZATION AND POPULATION DENSITY......Page 38
UNEMPLOYMENT......Page 39
FAMILY COMPOSITION......Page 40
Comparison of behavioural problems in New Zealand and other countries......Page 41
Comparison of this cohort versus other historical periods......Page 42
CHAPTER THREE Sex differences in the amount of antisocial behaviour: dimensional measures......Page 43
PARENT REPORTS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR......Page 44
SELF-REPORTS OF ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR......Page 45
Data analysis approach......Page 46
Results......Page 47
B. SEX DIFFERENCES IN OFFICIAL RECORDS OF OFFENDING......Page 49
COST OF CRIME......Page 50
Results......Page 51
TYPES OF OFFENCES......Page 53
Comment: sex similarity on drug and alcohol offences......Page 54
Comment: the concentration of crime......Page 56
Unanswered questions......Page 57
CHAPTER FOUR Sex differences in the prevalence of antisocial behaviour: categorical diagnostic measures......Page 58
Measures......Page 59
Prevalence rates of conduct disorder at each study phase......Page 63
Comment: the consequences of diagnostic cut-offs for the sex ratio......Page 64
Comment: lifetime diagnoses of conduct disorder......Page 65
Comment: the peri-pubertal period is a special risk period for girls’ conduct disorder......Page 66
Comment: precocious puberty and adolescent girls’ antisocial behaviour......Page 70
Take-home messages......Page 71
Unanswered questions......Page 72
CHAPTER FIVE Sex differences in physical violence and sex similarities in partner abuse......Page 73
INFORMANT REPORTS OF FIGHTING......Page 74
VIOLENCE AGAINST A PARTNER......Page 75
Partner violence......Page 77
Comment: the study of partner violence is critical to understanding antisocial behaviour in both sexes......Page 80
CHALLENGE ONE: ARE THE DATA ON FEMALE PARTNER VIOLENCE REALLY VALID?......Page 81
CHALLENGE TWO: IS WOMEN’S PARTNER VIOLENCE MOTIVATED BY SELF-DEFENCE?......Page 83
CHALLENGE THREE: IS WOMEN’S VIOLENCE AGAINST MEN CONSEQUENTIAL, OR TRIVIAL?......Page 86
Take-home messages......Page 89
Unanswered questions......Page 90
CHAPTER SIX Sex and the developmental stability of antisocial behaviour......Page 91
Data analysis approach......Page 92
Results......Page 93
B. THE STABILITY OF INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOUR......Page 94
Results......Page 95
Comment: the stability of antisocial behaviour is stronger than it looks here......Page 98
Take-home messages......Page 99
Unanswered question......Page 100
CHAPTER SEVEN Sex and the age of onset of delinquency and conduct disorder......Page 101
Comment: estimates of age of onset depend on the source of data......Page 102
Comment: adult on-set antisocial behaviour is extremely rare......Page 104
Comment: sex similarity in onset among those who do onset......Page 105
Comment: caveats and conclusions......Page 107
Take-home messages......Page 108
Unanswered questions......Page 109
CHAPTER EIGHT Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males more vulnerable than females to risk …......Page 110
The dependent variable: a composite measure of adolescent antisocial behaviour......Page 112
METERNAL RISK PREDICTORS......Page 114
FAMILY RISK PREDICTORS......Page 115
CHILD NEURO-COGNITIVE RISK PREDICTORS......Page 117
CHILD BEHAVIOURAL RISK PREDICTORS......Page 118
PEER-RELATIONSHIPS RISK PREDICTORS......Page 119
Data analysis approach......Page 120
Family risk predictors......Page 121
Neuro-cognitive risk predictors......Page 124
Peer-relationships risk factors......Page 125
Comment: how much variation in adolescent antisocial behaviour is explained by cumulative childhood risk?......Page 126
Take-home messages......Page 127
Unanswered question......Page 128
CHAPTER NINE Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males exposed to more risk factors for …......Page 129
Comparing boys and girls on the mean levels of risk factors......Page 130
Do sex differences in risk levels account for the sex difference in antisocial outcome?......Page 135
Comment: the importance of hyperactivity and peers for the sex difference in antisocial behaviour......Page 137
Comment: family adversity risk factors do not account for sex differences in antisocial behaviour......Page 138
Take-home messages......Page 141
Unanswered questions......Page 142
CHAPTER TEN Can sex differences in personality traits help to explain sex differences in antisocial behaviour?......Page 143
Measures of personality......Page 145
Measures of antisocial behaviour......Page 146
Results......Page 147
Data analysis approach......Page 150
Comment: implications of sex differences in personality for the study of antisocial behaviour......Page 151
Unanswered questions......Page 154
CHAPTER ELEVEN Sex and comorbidity: are there sex differences in the co-occurrence of conduct disorder and other disorders?......Page 155
BEHAVIOURAL AND EMOTIONAL DISORDERS......Page 158
Data analysis approach......Page 159
Results......Page 161
B. CROSS-AGE COMPARISONS OF COMORBIDITY WITH CONDUCT DISORDER: ANALYSING CONTINUOUS SYMPTOM SCALES......Page 163
Results......Page 164
Data analysis approach......Page 166
Results......Page 167
Comment: whither the depression of women with a history of conduct problems?......Page 168
Take-home messages......Page 169
Unanswered questions......Page 170
CHAPTER TWELVE Do girls who develop antisocial behaviour surmount a higher threshold of risk than their male counterparts?......Page 171
Measures......Page 173
Results......Page 174
Comment: resolving our disconfirmation of the threshold hypothesis with the prior literature......Page 177
Take-home messages......Page 178
CHAPTER THIRTEEN Sex differences in the effects of antisocial behaviour on young adult outcomes......Page 179
MEASURES OF EDUCATION BY AGE 21......Page 181
MEASURES OF RELATIONSHIP WITH A PARTNER......Page 182
MEASURES OF MENTAL HEALTH AT AGE 21......Page 183
MEASURES OF ATTITUDES ABOUT CRIME AND CRIMINAL BEHAVIOUR......Page 184
Data analysis approach......Page 185
Overview......Page 188
Comment: educational attainment......Page 189
Comment: work patterns......Page 192
Comment: living arrangements and patterns of union formation......Page 193
Comment: mental and physical health......Page 196
Comment: attitudes and experiences related to adult crime......Page 197
Comment: interpreting gendered outcomes in a life-course perspective......Page 198
Comment: foretelling the future......Page 200
Take-home messages......Page 202
Unanswered questions......Page 203
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Sex, antisocial behaviour, and mating: mate selection and early childbearing......Page 204
Sample......Page 205
PARTNERS’ SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS......Page 206
Data analysis approach......Page 207
Comment: the intra-generational implications of assortative mating for antisocial behaviour......Page 209
Comment: the inter-generational implications of assortative mating for antisocial behaviour......Page 213
Unanswered questions......Page 216
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Evaluating the recommendation to relax the criteria for diagnosing conduct disorder in girls......Page 218
Testing Zoccolillo’s hypothesis......Page 220
Comment: predictive validity for subclinical symptoms, or just gender-typed outcomes?......Page 221
Take-home messages......Page 226
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behaviour among males and females......Page 227
Does the taxonomy apply to females?......Page 230
Designating the comparison groups of the taxonomy......Page 232
Data analysis approach......Page 233
Do females and males on the same subtype path share the same risk background?......Page 234
Do young people on the life-course persistent path have more problematic adult outcomes than young people on the …......Page 240
Comment: the developmental typology fits both sexes......Page 241
Comment: more research is needed about the adolescent-onset path......Page 244
Unanswered questions......Page 246
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Priorities for a research agenda......Page 247
Research priority 1: individual-level neuro-developmental factors......Page 257
Research priority 2: social contexts as aetiological factors......Page 260
References......Page 266
Index......Page 294
