The Association Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Different Types of Offending Behavior: An Examination Across Two Generations of British Males.

Research has established a relationship between trauma exposure, often conceptualized as Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and offending, with some evidence suggesting that both trauma and offending can be transmitted from one generation to the next. Further, while some evidence suggests that experiencing a high number of ACEs is associated with different types of offenses, it is not known whether these associations are similar across generations. The current study aims to address this gap in knowledge by examining the effects of ACEs on different offense types across two generations, utilizing data from a longitudinal study of British male participants and their male children. Results suggest that high ACE scores are associated with several offense types within generations, but the effect of parental ACEs on the subsequent generation's offending was weak. Alongside a discussion of these findings, study limitations and future research directions are also presented.

Interactions Between Child-Rearing and Other Risk Factors in Predicting Delinquency, and Implications for Prevention.

This article aims to identify interactions between harsh discipline and poor supervision and other childhood risk factors (all measured at age 8-10) in predicting delinquency. It analyzes data collected in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), which is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 London males first assessed at age 8. Of these males, 26% were convicted between ages 10 and 17. Harsh discipline and poor supervision significantly predicted delinquency, as did 16 other childhood risk factors. Generally, harsh discipline predicted delinquency more strongly in the presence of other risk factors, whereas poor supervision predicted delinquency more strongly in the absence of other risk factors. It is suggested that parent training programs targeting harsh discipline should focus particularly on children and families who possess other risk factors, whereas parent training programs targeting poor supervision should focus particularly on children and families who do not possess other risk factors.

"ZARPAR"-Educational Program for Cognitive and Behavioral Development: Results of an Experiment to Evaluate Its Impact on Antisocial and Pro-Social Behavior.

Using an experimental design and a multi-measure and multi-informant approach, the current study sought to evaluate the impact of the early developmental prevention program "ZARPAR"-an intervention designed as a social and cognitive skills training program, that seeks to promote children's behavioral adjustment. A sample of elementary school children (experimental group n = 37; control group n = 66), attending Portuguese schools, was assessed before and 6 months after the intervention on the program's key-dimensions: behavioral problems, social skills, and executive functioning. Based on parent and teacher reports, the results largely suggested that the intervention had no effect or, for some dimensions, even the existence of negative outcomes. Possible reasons for these results are discussed. The current study highlights that, despite the overwhelmingly positive message about developmental prevention programs, not all interventions work, thus reinforcing the need for rigorous evaluations, in order to enhance the success of future interventions.

Cost-benefit analyses of developmental crime prevention programmes.

BACKGROUND: Children and youth who are at risk of becoming early-onset life-course-persistent offenders often slip through the cracks of other systems in society (e.g., health, education, child welfare, substance use and mental health). When they do, they impose an enormous economic burden on society. Developmental crime prevention (DCP) programmes seek to reduce these costs through evidence-based interventions that target individual child and family risk and protective factors for antisocial behaviour. AIM: This study reviewed cost-benefit analysis studies of DCP interventions to identify whether they produced monetary benefits that exceeded programme costs. METHOD: We searched the literature for studies of interventions that were evaluated using high-quality research methods (i.e., experimental or quasi-experimental designs). Key characteristics of these evaluations are summarised and benefit-to-cost ratios (BCRs) are reported. RESULTS: Eleven cost-benefit analysis (CBA) evaluations met study criteria. The programmes varied in terms of who they targeted (e.g., pregnant mothers, at-risk youth), the age of participants (e.g., adults, children, older youth), the intervention duration (e.g., 10 weeks to 4 years), and the follow-up interval (e.g., 6 months to 50 years). Ten of the 11 studies produced favourable BCRs, ranging between 1.35 and 31.77, depending on the type and scope of outcomes that were monetised. CONCLUSION: There is strong evidence in support of DCP from a cost-benefit perspective. However, given the small number of studies for analysis, more prospective longitudinal CBA evaluations are needed, in addition to greater consistency in the scope and methods that are used to monetise outcomes.

Measuring the costs of crime using the willingness-to-pay method.

BACKGROUND: Criminal justice policy decisions are increasingly being influenced by the ratio of the monetary benefits to the monetary costs. While policies based on evidence and analysed via cost-benefit studies are a welcome development, cost-benefit calculations are only as robust as the data upon which they are based. For England and Wales up to the present, cost-of-crime estimates used in cost-benefit analyses have been calculated by the Home Office using a multi-method approach. However, the intangible costs of crime have not been estimated adequately in England and Wales. AIM: The main aim was to quantify the intangible costs of crime using the willingness-to-pay (WTP) method. Also, stated preferences for different crime reduction methods were investigated. METHOD: This study utilises samples from the City of Cambridge (n = 534) and from Criminal Justice Practitioners (n = 124), to assess their WTP to prevent a range of crimes from happening in their neighbourhood, and their preferred crime reduction techniques. A Contingent Valuation Survey (CVS) was used. RESULTS: Overall, both samples gave a higher WTP for low volume, high harm crimes than for high volume, low harm crimes. Both samples supported funding youth programmes in preference to other forms of crime reduction initiatives. CONCLUSION: It is proposed that a CVS should be included in the next Crime Survey for England and Wales, in order to collect relevant WTP data on crime at the national level.

Health of Convicted Persons in the Third Generation of the Longitudinal Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development.

Research suggests that convicted persons are more likely than non-convicted persons to suffer poor health. However, few longitudinal studies have investigated associations between health and offending across generations. Using the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, this article prospectively investigates the relationship between health and offending across generations and between genders. At the average age of 25, third generation convicted males and females reported a higher incidence of serious drug use than non-convicted persons. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of mental illness and self-harm, whereas convicted females reported a lower incidence of physical illness, mental illness, self-harm and hospitalizations when compared to non-convicted females. Convicted males reported a higher incidence of industrial accidents, sports injuries and fight injuries, but a lower incidence of road accidents, whereas convicted females were more likely to report road accidents. Like their fathers, convicted males show worse health compared to non-convicted individuals.

Does Childhood Maltreatment Lead to Low Life Success? Comparing Agency and Self-Reports.

BACKGROUND: The long-term mental and physical health consequences of childhood maltreatment have been well documented. Less known are the longer-term consequences of childhood maltreatment, specifically the extent to which childhood maltreatment predicts adult life success. OBJECTIVES: To prospectively assess the extent to which childhood experiences of physical, sexual, emotional abuse and childhood neglect predict life success at 30 years of age. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: Data are from the Mater-University of Queensland Study of Pregnancy (MUSP), a pre-birth cohort study which follows children from conception to 30 years of age. METHODS: Details of childhood maltreatment are from two sources; child safety agency notifications (and substantiations) linked to the survey data with self-reports of childhood experiences of maltreatment obtained at the 30-year follow-up using the Child Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Life success is a 9-item composite measure (alpha = 0.76) obtained at the 30-year follow-up. We use logistic regression models (with control for covariates) to examine the association between overall as well as specific forms of childhood maltreatment on adult life success. We further test these models using different cut-offs and propensity analyses to adjust for loss to follow-up. RESULTS: Childhood maltreatment whether measured by agency report or self-report predicts overall low life success; agency substantiation OR = 1.88(1.14,3.08) & self-report OR = 2.60 (2.10,3.25). Self-report physical abuse, OR = 2.37(1.72,3.28); sexual abuse, OR = 2.85(2.05,3.96); emotional abuse, OR = 2.53(1.85,3.45) and neglect, OR = 2.36(1.83,3.03) all predict higher levels of low life success. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that the long-term consequences of childhood maltreatment extend to a wide range of day-to-day circumstances and extend into mid- to later life.

The impact of modes of administration on self-reports of offending: evidence from a methodological experiment with university students.

Objectives: Current knowledge about the causes of offending behavior is heavily reliant on self-reports of offending (SRO). However, methodological research on the impact of modes of administration on SRO is very scarce. Further, the existing evidence conflicts with the general knowledge about responding to sensitive questions. In this study, we aimed to test whether SRO are affected by modes of administration. Methods: We carried out a methodological experiment, with a 2 (interviewer-administered vs. self-administered surveys) × 2 (paper-and-pencil vs. computer- assisted surveys) factorial design. A total of 181 undergraduate students were randomly assigned to one of these conditions and completed the International Self-Report Delinquency 3 (ISRD3) questionnaire. Results: Findings showed an increased odds of reporting offending behavior in self-administered surveys, compared to face-to-face interviews. Paper-and-pencil and computer-assisted modes resulted in comparable estimates of offending. Conclusions: This experiment provides evidence that SRO provide more accurate estimates of offending behavior using self-administered surveys.

Relationships Between Psychopathy and DSM Personality Disorders in Men and Women.

The current investigation asseses the relationship between DSM personality disorders (PDs) and PCL psychopathy in a community study: the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD). The children (Generation 3) of the original CSDD males (Generation 2) were assessed for PDs and psychopathy in early adulthood. Generation 3 consisted of both males (n = 291) and females (n = 260) and allowed for analyses separately for each gender. Cluster B PDs showed the strongest relationships with psychopathy, especially Borderline and Antisocial PD. Histrionic PD did not appear to have strong relationships with psychopathy, and there were no indications that histrionic PD overlaps with psychopathy in females as past research has hypothesized. There were however some other gender-specific relationships in the analyses, most notably between psychopathy and schizoid and schizotypal PDs for females, and between psychopathy and paranoid PD in males. Implications for the understanding of psychopathy in males and females are discussed.

Towards an Integrative Theory of Bullying in Residential Care for Youth.

To date, no theory of bullying in residential care for youth has been proposed. By drawing on the results of the existing research on bullying and peer violence in youth residential care and adapting the Multifactor Model of Bullying in Secure Settings (MMBSS), this paper proposes the first integrative theory of bullying in residential care-the Multifactor Model of Bullying in Residential Settings (MMB-RS). The paper first summarises the existing empirical findings on bullying and peer violence in residential care for youth and describes the MMBSS. It then moves on to proposing and describing the MMB-RS. In a nutshell, the MMB-RS assumes that bullying in residential care is shaped by a dynamic interaction between a complex set of individual and contextual factors. The model also takes into account the interaction between bullies and victims, thus explicitly considering the social interactional components of bullying and victimisation and offering possible explanations of the sizable overlap between bullying and victimisation in residential care, including the possible contributions of residential peer cultures. The paper concludes by noting the importance of empirically testing the MMB-RS and proposing a programme of research that may be helpful in testing it.

Improving Literacy Competence and Social and Emotional Competencies in Primary Education Through Cooperative Project-Based Learning.

BACKGROUND: Cooperative learning and Project-Based Learning are methodologies that can promote learning environments and improve learning, school achievement, and social and emotional competencies. METHOD: A mixed combination of these two methodologies called Cooperative Project-Based Learning was designed, and a quasi-experimental evaluation study with a pre-test and a post-test was conducted with a sample of 156 students from Primary Education. Literacy competence and social and emotional competencies, including empathy, were analyzed and compared between experimental and control groups. RESULTS: The intervention effectively increased scores on literacy competence, social and emotional competencies, and empathy in the experimental group, significantly more than in the control group. The girls in the experimental group exhibited greater improvement than the controls in literacy competence, social and emotional competencies and empathy. However, the boys in the experimental group were only different from the boys in the control group in literacy competence, but not in the other two variables. CONCLUSIONS: These results have implications for school practice and curriculum planning in Primary Education. New lines of future research are also being opened based on the impact of Cooperative Project-Based Learning on other key competencies and on the prevention of antisocial behaviors.

Intergenerational Continuity of Intimate Partner Violence Perpetration: An Investigation of Possible Mechanisms.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a continuum of abuse that is associated with a number of negative outcomes including substance misuse, depression, and suicidal ideation. This study aims to investigate the intergenerational transmission of IPV perpetration and the mechanisms involved. Intergenerational transmission was investigated using information from two generations of the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development which is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 males from an inner London area in the UK who have been followed up over a period of 50 years. Information with regard to IPV perpetration, specifically physical violence, was garnered from self-reports by the male at age 32, from their female partner at age 48, and from their male and female children in early adulthood. Regression analyses were used to investigate intergenerational transmission and examine whether psychosocial risk factors could be identified as potential intergenerational pathways. Having a father who was a perpetrator of IPV significantly increased the odds of daughters being perpetrators by 2 times. It did not significantly increase the odds for sons. The intergenerational transmission of IPV perpetration remains between fathers and their daughters over and above a series of psychosocial factors such as accommodation problems and alcohol misuse. Identification of factors associated with the intergenerational transmission of IPV perpetration will inform practitioners and policymakers. Information garnered from studies such as this may contribute to the development of prevention and intervention strategies for those at risk.

Intergenerational transmission of personality disorder severity and the role of psychosocial risk factors.

BACKGROUND: Familial influences on the development of many psychopathologies are well recognised, yet the psychosocial risk factors that could help explain apparently intergenerational continuities of personality disorder (PD) are less well understood. AIMS: To establish whether there is an association between the severity of PD in men and their offspring in a community cohort, and whether factors recognised as having the potential to increase risk of psychopathology mediate this. METHODS: Participants in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (n = 452 dyads) were assessed using the Tyrer and Johnson model of PD severity. Severe PD was defined as antisocial PD plus at least one other PD from a different cluster. Original participants were assessed by interview and their offspring by screening questionnaire. Chi-square tests and mediation models were used to investigate the intergenerational continuity of PD severity and its relationship with psychosocial risk factors. RESULTS: An association between severe PD in fathers and severe PD in their offspring was confirmed, regardless of whether the offspring were male or female. Whilst preliminary tests suggested that employment problems, poor parental supervision and family disruption we associated with severe PD in daughters, mediation analysis suggested that these variables had very little effect once severity of father's disorder was in the model. CONCLUSIONS: Psychosocial risk factors appear to play a limited role in the intergenerational transmission of PD severity, although future studies should take account of interaction data, for example, quality and quantity of paternal interaction given a child's temperamental traits.

Measuring Self-Serving Cognitive Distortions with Special Reference to Juvenile Delinquency: A Validation of the "How I Think" Questionnaire in a Sample of Portuguese Adolescents.

The present study aims to test the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the "How I Think" (HIT) questionnaire. The HIT questionnaire is a self-report measure of self-serving cognitive distortions. Our sample was comprised of 442 Portuguese-speaking adolescents and young adults (254 males and 188 females), aged between 12 and 20 years. Of the total 442 participants, 351 were recruited from a Portuguese school and 91 from four Portuguese detention centers for juvenile delinquents. Data analysis provided evidence supporting the original six-factor model solution, composed of a four-category typology of self-serving cognitive distortions (i.e., Selfcentered, Blaming Others, Minimizing/Mislabeling, and Assuming the Worst), an Anomalous responding, and one Positive filler factor. Further, results showed satisfactory internal consistency, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. In conclusion, this article provides Portuguese researchers and practitioners with a valid measure of self-serving cognitive distortions.

Descriptive and Quasi-Experimental Studies about Moral Emotions, Online Empathy, Anger Management, and Their Relations with Key Competencies in Primary Education.

BACKGROUND: Antisocial behaviours make social interactions difficult among students. Moral emotions, online empathy, and anger management are social and emotional variables related to prosocial and antisocial behaviours and health problems. This research aims to assess the impact of Cooperative Project-Based Learning intervention on these three variables for Primary Education students. Additionally, the relations of these variables with key competencies, such as social and emotional competencies and literacy competence, were studied. METHOD: This research is made up of two studies, descriptive and quasi-experimental, during regular school hours. The descriptive study was carried out with a sample of 516 primary school students and aimed to assess the development of the three variables, taking into account personal and ethnic-cultural factors. The quasi-experimental study, with pre-test and post-test data, had the participation of 145 students to study the incidence of these variables after Cooperative Project-Based Learning intervention in Primary Education. RESULTS: The results show the relation among the cited variables and the positive impact of the intervention on moral emotions and anger management in the experimental group compared to the control group. Experimental group girls presented higher scores in moral emotions than control group girls. CONCLUSION: These results open new research lines in relation to the intervention as a programme to prevent the appearance of antisocial behaviours and health problems at school.

Stability of psychopathy in a prospective longitudinal study: Results from the Cambridge Study in delinquent development.

To further understand psychopathy within a Developmental and Life-Course Criminology perspective, the current article investigates the stability and change in psychopathy from childhood to middle age. The Cambridge Study in delinquent development is a prospective longitudinal study of 411 males, where psychopathy was coded based on contemporanously collected data from young people and in adulthood. Psychopathy in middle age was assessed in a medical interview. The findings indicate a high degree of stability of psychopathy across the life-course. To explain stability and change, childhood factors that might predict this were investigated. Few factors were related to stability and change across the life-course. Poor supervision, poor housing, a large family, and having a convicted father were associated with any change. A depressed mother was associated with a later decrease in psychopathy. This investigation has implications not only for the downward extension of psychopathy to childhood, but also for the understanding of the development of criminal and antisocial behavior.

Applying the Social Development Model in Middle Childhood to Promote Healthy Development: Effects From Primary School Through the 30s and Across Generations.

PURPOSE: This paper describes the origins and application of a theory, the social development model (SDM), that seeks to explain causal processes that lead to the development of prosocial and problem behaviors. The SDM was used to guide the development of a multicomponent intervention in middle childhood called Raising Healthy Children (RHC) that seeks to promote prosocial development and prevent problem behaviors. This paper reviews and integrates the tests of the SDM and the impact of RHC. While the original results of both model and intervention tests have been published elsewhere, this paper provides a comprehensive review of these tests. As such this integrative paper provides one of the few examples of the power of theory-driven developmental preventive intervention to understand impact across generations and the power of embedding controlled tests of preventive intervention within longitudinal studies to understand causal mechanisms. METHODS: Application of the SDM in the RHC intervention was tested in a quasi-experimental trial nested in the Seattle Social Development Project (SSDP). SSDP is a longitudinal study of 808 students who attended 18 public schools in Seattle, WA, and whose parents consented for their participation in longitudinal research when they were in Grade 5 (77% of the eligible population in participating schools). Students assented at each survey administration and consented to longitudinal follow-up when they turned 18. Panel subjects were followed and surveyed 15 times from Grade 5 through age 39, with most completion rates above 90%. RESULTS: We describe effects of the full multicomponent RHC intervention delivered in Grades 1 through 6 by comparing outcomes of those children assigned to the full RHC intervention condition to controls from middle childhood through age 39. We also report the effects of the full RHC intervention on the firstborn children of participants compared with the firstborn children of controls. CONCLUSIONS: We discuss use of the theory to guide development and testing of preventive interventions and the utility of nesting intervention tests within longitudinal studies for testing both theory and interventions.

Self-reported and general practitioner recorded indicators of lifetime health up to age 48 according to offender type in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development.

BACKGROUND: Previous research has suggested that people with a history of offending have worse health compared to non-offenders, but it is less clear whether all types of offenders are at similar health risks. In a New Zealand birth cohort study, Moffitt evidenced three main offending trajectories-life-course-persistent (LCP), adolescence-limited (AL) and late-onset (LO) offending, subsequently confirmed in other substantial longitudinal studies. AIMS: Our aim was to explore the relationship between these offending trajectories and both self-reported (SR) and general practitioner (GP) (primary care) recorded health indicators. METHODS: Self-reported medical data at age 48 were obtained for 394 men followed since age 8 years in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development. In addition, medical records were obtained from GPs for 264 of them. Health indicators from both sources were compared between each of the three established trajectories of offenders across the life course-LCP, AL, LO and the non-offenders. RESULTS: LCP offenders were found to have over twice the likelihood of disabling medical conditions according to both self-report and GP records. They were also more likely to have GP records indicating mental health problems and treatment for them. According to GP records alone, the LO offenders were also more likely to have mental health problems. The health of AL offenders appeared to be no different from that of the crime-free controls. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings add weight to the growing evidence that LCP offending and offending that only occurs relatively late in life are likely to be the indicators of generally unhealthy and disrupted lives. This suggests that if lifestyle is to change for the better, interventions are likely to be needed for health as well as antisocial behaviour.