CH 2. Origins of Criminal Behavior: Developmental Risk Factors

Question 1

Developmental Pathway

Answer 1

Keywords: RISK FACTORS on path of life

The developmental path that a person follows through life that may be littered with RISK FACTORS that threaten a path to criminal Behavior.

Question 2

RISK Factors vs. PROTECTIVE Factors

Answer 2

Keywords: “PROTECT against RISKS”

RISK FACTORS are those things in life that put a person further AT RISK of criminal (or ANTISOCIAL) behavior (ex. poverty, abuse, poor parenting, etc.)

PROTECTIVE FACTORS are those things in life that DECREASE RISK of criminal (or ANTISOCIAL) behavior (ex. nurturing parents, good home life, quality education, etc.)

Question 3

3 Types of Risk Factors

Answer 3

Keywords: “SOCIAL PARENTS are PSYCHOS” (memory mnemonic)

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT – poverty, antisocial peers, peer rejection, bad environment

PARENTAL & FAMILY – bad parenting, negative sibling influence, abuse, exposure to violence

PSYCHOLOGICAL – cognitive or language impairment, lack of empathy, poor social skills, behavioral disorders

Question 4

Cumulative Risk Model (of Antisocial Behavior Development)

or…

(Single vs. Multiple Risk factors)

Answer 4

Keywords: MULTIPLE RISK FACTORS multiply the risk of ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR.

Says RISKS ACCUMULATE.

No single risk factor determines a future of antisocial behavior, but the more RISK FACTORS a person has, the more likely they are to develop ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR.

Question 5

Dynamic Cascade Model (of Antisocial Behavior Development)

Answer 5

Keywords: RISK FACTORS INTERACT with each other causing a person to CASCADE down a bad life-course trajectory.

A person’s developmental skills or deficits affect the next skill or deficit along the life-course trajectory, creating a “snowball” effect that builds upon itself like a ball of snow rolling down a hill and getting bigger as it picks up more and more snow.

• It can occur regardless of economic conditions, but poverty adds an additional layer of RISK.

Ex. Early childhood poor parenting leads child to cause trouble at school, which leads to peer rejection, which leads to disinterest in school, which leads to association with antisocial peers (or ‘deviant peers’), which leads to antisocial and violent behavior.

Question 6

Poverty (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 6

Keywords: POVERTY is one of the most ROBUST PREDICTORS of adolescent VIOLENCE for both males and females.

• The effects of poverty are not only cumulative but also INTERACTIVE, in that the effects at one stage can hinder development at later stages.
• Poverty is an overarching RISK FACTOR that affects everything – heavily NEGATIVELY impacting parenting, healthcare, housing, education, racism, violence, mental illness, peer association etc.
• So POVERTY is usually automatically ASSOCIATED with many other RISK FACTORS

Question 7

Peer Rejection & Association with Antisocial Peers (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 7

Keywords: PEER REJECTION leads to ANTISOCIAL BEHAVIOR and ASSOCIATION with ANTISOCIAL PEERS

• One of the strongest predictors of later involvement in antisocial behavior is early REJECTION by PEERS.
• PEER INFLUENCE is a strong predictor of substance abuse and delinquent behavior
• PEER INFLUENCE increases with adolescence as children become more independent from their family and often struggle to find their identity.
• Quality of PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP is a strong indicator of whether or not a child is rejected early in life – likely due to the level of social skills and security they bring to peer interactions when the parent-child relationship is warm and loving.
• PEER REJECTION is usually caused by peers finding something ‘different’ about the person – like they way they act (shy, awkward, aggressive), their physical appearance (clothes, unkempt), or even their family’s reputation (ex: if a family member is in jail).
• GENDER: High peer rejection was related to high delinquency and crime
  in males but not in females.

Question 8

Gang Influence on Rejected Youth (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 8

Keywords: DEVIANT GROUPS and ANTISOCIAL YOUTH attract each other and AMPLIFY ANTISOCIAL tendencies.

• Peer-rejected, antisocial children are drawn to deviant groups with members similar to themselves, and this encourages and AMPLIFIES already existing antisocial
  tendencies
• Childhood PEER REJECTION encourages children to participate in deviant peer groups that then AMPLIFY tendencies to become more deviant and antisocial.
• That is, deviant group membership or gangs encourage and increase the already existing antisocial patterns in children and adolescents.

Question 9

Preschool Experiences (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 9

Keywords: HIGH-QUALITY DAYCARE is KEY

• 60% of children under 5 are in some sort of non-parental daycare on a regular basis.
• MULTIPLE DAYCARE ENVIRONMENTS are BAD. Being placed in different homes, day-care centers, classrooms, or peer groups
  on a weekly basis increases problem behavior and decreases prosocial behavior
• For low-income children, HIGH-QUALITY child care outside the home offers learning opportunities and social and emotional SUPPORTS that many would not experience at home.
• Aggressive tendencies at THREE YEARS of age predict aggressive behavior later in life.

Question 10

After School Care (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 10

Keywords: KIDS need after-school SUPERVISION

• Children who spend fairly large amounts of time in unsupervised after-school self-care in the early
  elementary grades are at elevated risk for behavior problems in early adolescence.

Question 11

Academic Failure (Social Environment Risk Factor)

Answer 11

Keywords: STAY in SCHOOL

• Over 25% of public school students fail to earn a diploma.
• Dropping out of school raises the odds of being arrested during a lifetime by 350%.
• POOR READING COMPREHENSION seems to be a primary factor in academic failure and so developing high reading achievement could be considered a PROTECTIVE FACTOR.
• A CASCADING series of events could lead to ACADEMIC difficulties, which could lead to further difficulties without offsetting PROTECTIVE FACTORS

Question 12

Single-Parent Households (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 12

Keywords: 2 PARENTS are BETTER than 1, but CONFLICT-FREE & NURTURING living beats CONFLICT-RIDDEN living every time.

• Delinquents were MORE LIKELY than non-delinquents to come from homes where parents were DIVORCED or separated
• Children from single-parent homes that are relatively CONFLICT-FREE are LESS LIKELY to be
  DELINQUENT than children from conflict-ridden “intact” homes
• Contemporary focus of study is on the QUALITY of parenting (Nurturing or not?) rather than the STRUCTURAL variables of the household (e.g., single-parent vs. Dual-parent households)
• 28% of children in the US live with one parent.

Question 13

Most IMPORTANT factor for healthy development.

Answer 13

Keywords: STABLE and NURTURING home rules them all.

It is clear that a STABLE home with NURTURING parenting can overcome almost all other risk factors, including poverty, single-parent or other atypical family structure, bad neighborhood, peer rejection, etc.

Question 14

Parenting Styles vs. Parental Practices (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 14

PARENTAL PRACTICES are strategies employed
by parents to achieve specific academic, social, or athletic goals. More important than the practices are the parental Styles.

PARENTAL STYLES refer to parent–child INTERACTIONS characterized by parental ATTITUDES toward the child and the emotional climate of
the parent–child relationship. There are 4 types:

1) AUTHORITARIAN (bad) – like a DICTATOR, rigid, harsh, and CONTROLLING
2) PERMISSIVE (bad) – PERMITS EVERYTHING, but generally supportive and present.
3) AUTHORITATIVE (Best) – is loving as well as structured – PERFECT BALANCE for optimal development
4) NEGLECTING (Bad) – DETACHED and INENGAGED in child’s life.
* NEGLECTING PARENTAL STYLE is one of the STRONGEST RISK FACTORS identified with delinquency and a life of crime.

Question 15

ENMESHED and LAX Parenting Styles (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 15

Keywords: BOTH styles ENMESHED (authoritarian dictator) and LAX (permissive) contribute to DELINQUINCY.

• ENMESHED (Like AUTHORITARIAN dictator) – “These parents don’t ignore even very trivial excessive behaviors. They issue more and poorer commands, use verbal threats, and disapproval, but fail to consistently and effectively back up these verbal reprimands with nonviolent, nonphysical punishment”
• LAX (Like PERMISSIVE) – Lax parents are not sufficiently attuned to what constitutes problematic or antisocial behavior in children. Consequently, they allow much of it to slip by, without disciplinary actions.

Question 16

Impact of Motherly Love

Answer 16

Keywords: LOVING MOTHERS were more helpful to GIRLS than boys.

• VIOLENT behavior and antisocial behavior among GIRLS may be buffered by the presence of a warm,
  responsive (authoritative) mother, HOWEVER the same result was NOT found for BOYS.

Question 17

Parental Monitoring (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 17

Keywords: MONITORED KIDS stay OUT of TROUBLE

• “PARENTS who STAY INFORMED ABOUT their CHILD’S ACTIVITIES, attend to their child’s behavior, and structure their child’s environment have children with BETTER OUTCOMES”
• PARTICULARLY IMPORTANT during MIDDLE SCHOOL years.
• As always, the effectiveness of the monitoring depends on the naturre of the family relationships and whether the adolescent feels overcontrolled by parents.

Question 18

Importance of Parent-Child Relationship (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 18

Keywords: a POSITIVE PARENT-CHILD RELATIONSHIP makes EVERYTHING BETTER

• EVERYTHING is better with a positive parent-child relationship – all RISK FACTORS are WEAKENED by this PROTECTIVE FACTOR.
• This is closely tied with the general idea that a stable home-life is an OVERARCHING and powerful PROTECTIVE FACTOR against negative outcomes for the child.

OTHER CRITICAL HOME FACTORS:

• STRONG CONNECTEDNESS with the FATHER (more so than the mother) was a crucial predictor of a BETTER OUTCOME For the child, driving a decrease
  in problem behaviors. This was true whether or not the father lived in the home, and it did not differ whether the child was MALE or FEMALE.
• Surprisingly, MOTHER–CHILD connectedness was NOT a significant predictor of change.

Question 19

Influence of Siblings (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 19

• CONFLICT with a SIBLING had SIGNIFICANT PREDICTIVE effects on problem behavior as younger siblings tend to follow older siblings and are usually subject to the same risk factors.
• This sibling effect is stronger if the siblings have a strong connectedness.
• If the siblings do not get along, then the effect might be the opposite – where the younger sibling strives to be DIFFERENT from the older, deviant sibling.

Question 20

Parental Mental Illness (Parental/Family Risk Factor)

Answer 20

Children of parents who are clinically depressed—especially mothers—are at increased risk
for a range of socioemotional and behavioral problems,

Question 21

Attachment Theory (Psychological Risk Factor)

Answer 21

Says that the early relationship between an infant and a caregiver largely determines the quality of social relationships later in life Bowlby (1969).

3 Types of Attachment:

1) Secure
2) Insecure (Anxious/Ambivalent)
3) Insecure (Avoidant)

• Problems with attachment apparently are related to deficiencies in caregiving by adults in the child’s life.
• Caregivers who are affectionate, and responsive, and who create trust of the world, typically have securely attached
  infants who develop into psychologically healthy
  people.

Question 22

Secure Attachment

Answer 22

Keywords: COMFORTABLE, DISTRESSED when PARENT LEAVES, DELIGHTED when PARENT RETURNS

Children play COMFORTABLY in their parent’s presence and demonstrate curiosity about their new and challenging environment.

• When the parent LEAVES, the child becomes DISTRESSED
• But when the parent RETURNS, the child beams with DELIGHT.

Question 23

Insecure (Anxious/Ambivalent)

Answer 23

Keywords: UNcomfortable, VERY DISTRESSED when PARENT LEAVES, INDIFFERENT or HOSTILE when PARENT RETURNS

Child becomes intensely distressed and anxious by separation, and in new environments, they are UNCOMFORTABLE, often cling anxiously to their parent without much exploration (Ainsworth, 1979).

• When the parent RETURNS after separation, Child may become INDIFFERENT and even HOSTILE. These infants may push the returning parent away, stiffen up, or cry when picked up.
• Anxious/ambivalent attachment usually have parents who are overbearing and inconsistent in their affection and intimacy. These infants never know when and how their parents will respond to their needs. As adults, they want to have close relationships but continually worry about
  their partners and relationships returning the affection.

Question 24

Insecure (Avoidant)

Answer 24

Keywords: DETACHED from PARENT whether or not parent is present or absent. Associated with DISMISSING ATTACHMENT in adulthood

• Child is LITTLE DISTRESSED, whether the parent is present or not. They rarely cry during separation or reunion.
• Infants with avoidant
  attachment style often have parents who are aloof, distant, and prefer to avoid intimacy with their
  children. Consequently, these children as adults have difficulty forming intimate relationships.
• SEX OFFENDERS demonstrate the dismissing (avoidant) attachment style in their adult relationships.

Question 25

Lack of Empathy (Psychological Risk Factor)

Answer 25

Keywords: AFFECTIVE = EMOTIONAL EMPATHY – the MOST IMPORTANT, and COGNITIVE = UNDERSTANDING others emotions

Empathy 2 types:

• AFFECTIVE empathy is “an EMOTIONAL response characterized by feelings of concern
  for another and a desire to alleviate that person’s distress” – the ability to EXPERIENCE another person’s emotions,
• COGNITIVE empathy refers to the ability to UNDERSTAND a person from his or her frame of reference rather than simply from one’s own point of view – the ability to UNDERSTAND another’s emotions.
• DEFICIENCIES in EMPATHY is a characteristic of aggressive and ANTISOCIAL individuals
• PSYCHOPATHS are believed to be able to UNDERSTAND the emotions of others
  (cognitive empathy), but show a remarkable INABILITY to EXPERIENCE them.
• The relationship between a lack of empathy and antisocial behavior can be seen as soon as early elementary school and seems to become STRONGER with AGE – Children who display little empathy in the third grade exhibit even less in the eighth grade.
• Of the two types of empathy, a DEFICIENCY in AFFECTIVE (or emotional) empathy appears to be most STRONGLY RELATED to VIOLENCE and criminal behavior

Question 26

Animal Cruelty (Psychological Risk Factor)

Answer 26

Keywords: CRUEL to ANIMALS = CRUEL to HUMANS

• Cruelty to animals was one of the strongest predictors of serious, violent criminal behavior.
• There is a strong association between animal cruelty and violent behavior toward humans.
• There is a link between
  childhood cruelty to animals and later serial murders.
• Swatting a fly is not animal cruelty. Watching the fly’s reaction as you slowly pull off its wings and legs is cruelty. You can feel the difference in intent.

Question 27

Language Deficiencies (Psychological Risk Factor)

Answer 27

Language Deficiencies refers to problems expressing or understanding language

• Poor language development during the second year of life was a significant predictor of adult criminal behavior.
• Language impairment appears to produce a serious CASCADING effect on healthy academic and social development.
• Language-impaired children are often REJECTED by PEERS and are frequently viewed negatively by their teachers.

Question 28

Intelligence (Psychological Risk Factor)

Answer 28

Keywords: LOWER INTELLIGENCE is a predictor of ANTISOCIAL behavior.

• NO EVIDENCE has shown a difference between the intelligence of various ethnic groups.

Question 29

Self-Regulation

Answer 29

The ability to CONTROL one’s own behavior.

• Critical to success.

Question 30

Conduct Disorder (CD)

Answer 30

Represents a WIDE RANGE of DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIORS (e.g. bullying, animal cruelty fighting, threatening assault, etc.)

• A central feature of CD is a repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior that violates the basic rights of others or violates major age-appropriate societal norms.
• If CD emerges during early childhood, the child may be destined for an exposure to a wide spectrum of risk factors that result in a life of trouble and difficulty. If onset occurs during adolescence,
  the individual often matures into a life without involvement in serious or violent criminal behavior.

Question 31

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) & Disruptive Behavior Disorders (DbD)

Answer 31

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) ODD represents problems in self-control of EMOTIONS AND BEHAVIOR, while Conduct Disorder represents more problems in control of BEHAVIOR alone (with far less emphasis on controlling emotions.)

• ODD is characterized as negative, hostile, vindictive, and defiant, more than is expected for his or her age, with these behaviors lasting for at least six months – which means it can be temporary and often dismissed as “normal child and teenage behavior”
• Indeed, ODD does NOT lead to long-term antisocial behavior.