Developmental Risk Factors

Origins of Criminal Behavior: Developmental Risk Factors

Objectives

  • Introduce cumulative risk and developmental cascade models.

  • Identify social, family, and psychological developmental risk factors leading to delinquency and crime.

  • Demonstrate how early preschool experiences can contribute to a life of antisocial behavior.

  • Emphasize the influence of peer rejection on child and youth behavior.

  • Stress the connection between cognitive abilities and delinquency and crime.

  • Discuss ADHD, CD, and ODD as potential contributors to delinquent and criminal behavior.

The Developmental Perspective

  • Developmental pathways: Humans follow a trajectory that may include various risk factors.

  • Not all criminal behavior begins in childhood; some may begin with adult onset.

Risk Factors

  • Definition: Social, family, and psychological experiences that increase the likelihood of persistent criminal behavior.

    • Examples:

      • School failure

      • Alcohol abuse

      • Antisocial peers

      • Childhood victimization

Protective Factors

  • Definition: Characteristics or experiences that shield children from serious antisocial behavior.

    • Examples:

      • Warm and caring parents

      • High-quality education

Cumulative Risk Model

  • Definition: The accumulation of multiple risk factors without sufficient protective factors leads to negative outcomes (behavioral, emotional, cognitive).

    • Example: Poor background doesn't always result in antisocial behavior; protective factors can mitigate risks.

Developmental/Dynamic Cascade Model

  • Emphasizes interactions among risk factors and effects on outcomes throughout development.

    • Concepts:

      • "Snowballing"

      • Cognitive competence

      • Resilience

Social Environmental Risk Factors

Poverty

  • Effects: Severe impacts on individuals, including cumulative and interactive effects.

  • Connections: Strong links to persistent violent offending among victims and offenders.

Intertwined Influences of Poverty

  • Associated factors include racism, family disruption, unsafe living conditions, poor nutrition, joblessness, social isolation, and limited support systems.

  • Children from lower socioeconomic classes experience increased law enforcement targeting and greater criminal justice involvement.

Early Peer Rejection

  • Strong predictor of later antisocial behavior.

  • Quality of parent-child/marital relationships critically influences outcomes.

  • Social exclusion adversely affects prosocial behavior.

Association with Antisocial Peers

  • Increased susceptibility to negative peer influence during adolescence.

  • Strong predictor of adolescent substance use and delinquent acts.

Peer Rejection - WHY?

  • Factors contributing to peer rejection:

    • Inadequate social skills

    • Aggressive behavior

      • Impulsivity

      • Anger or emotional rage

      • ADHD

Gender Differences in Peer Rejection

  • Most research emphasizes boys; early aggression with peers predicts rejection.

Influence of Deviant Groups

  • Association with deviant peer groups can amplify antisocial tendencies.

  • Peer-rejected children often seek contact with similarly socially unskilled peers.

Social Environmental Risk Factors

Inadequate Preschool Experiences

  • Quality of child care and exposure to aggressive peers impact children's behavioral development.

Inadequate After-School Care

  • A lack of supervision can lead to increased opportunities for unsupervised activities that may promote antisocial behavior.

Academic Failure

  • Academic struggles have detrimental effects on mental and psychological development, including issues related to labeling and achievement in reading.

Parental and Family Risk Factors

Single-Parent Households

  • Quality of relationships with custodial and non-custodial parents, along with economic status and emotional support, are critical.

Parental Practices

  • Strategies parents employ to achieve goals in academics, social situations, or athletics affect child development (e.g., allowances, school involvement).

Parental Styles

  • Baumrind's Four Parental Styles:

    • Authoritarian

    • Permissive

    • Authoritative

    • Neglecting

  • Inquiry into which style correlates most with criminal behavior.

Enmeshed Parenting Style

  • Relationships characterized by unclear boundaries which may hinder children's personal development and ethical formation.

Lax Parenting Style

  • Lack of recognition of child involvement in deviant actions with no disciplinary measures taken.

Minimal Parental Monitoring

  • Monitoring child's activities helps reduce engagement in drug use and delinquency.

  • Essential during the early teenage years (11-13 years).

Antisocial Siblings

  • Sibling dynamics, including imitation and conflict, correlate with an increased likelihood of delinquency.

Parental Psychopathology

  • Presence of parental mental health issues elevates socioemotional and behavioral problem risks in children.

Psychological Risk Factors

Lack of Attachment

  • Types of attachment include secure and insecure (anxious/ambivalent or avoidant).

  • Impact of parenting styles on attachment, including helicopter parenting.

Lack of Empathy

  • Distinctions between affective and cognitive empathy, with low affective empathy often linked to psychopathic behavior (e.g., animal cruelty).

Cognitive and Language Deficits

  • Deficits interfere with social skills, problem solving, academic performance, and self-regulation.

Procriminal Attitudes

  • Beliefs about legality and justification for criminal behavior, including techniques for neutralization (e.g., denial of responsibility).

Low Intelligence

  • An inverse relationship exists between IQ scores and delinquency rates.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)

  • Leading psychological diagnosis among children in the U.S. with links to delinquency and substance abuse.

Conduct Disorder (CD)

  • Characterized by persistent misbehavior violating others' rights or societal norms; frequently diagnosed in youth in juvenile courts.

Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)

  • Involves disruptive behavior disorders, problems with self-control, and adjustment issues in later life.

Recap of Objectives

  • Review of cumulative risk and developmental cascade models, social/family/psychological risk factors leading to crime, impact of preschool experiences, peer rejection's influence, cognitive abilities correlation, and the impact of ADHD, CD, and ODD.