Special Section Introduction: Revitalizing Developmental Research on Adolescent Gun Involvement.

Although firearm violence is universally recognized as a paramount public health problem in the United States, for nearly two decades a Congressional budget amendment prevented federal agencies from funding research aimed at understanding the antecedents and consequences of gun violence. These restrictions have been lifted in recent years; however, the field is struggling to overcome a considerable lapse in developmentally-informed longitudinal research on adolescent gun involvement. Some key areas in need of further investigation include: (a) examining developmental and gender differences in risk factors for adolescent gun carrying, (b) clarifying the mechanisms through which socio-economic disadvantage confers risk for engaging in adolescent gun violence, (c) identifying proximal risk and protective factors that are associated with engagement in adolescent gun violence among high risk youth, and (d) delineating the unique effect the exposure to gun violence has on adolescents' emotional and behavioral problems. This special section was organized in an attempt to revitalize research on these issues using a diverse array of longitudinal data sets consisting of both epidemiological and juvenile justice samples. Collectively, the findings from these studies are based upon repeated assessments conducted from childhood through early adulthood, making this set of papers uniquely positioned to advance our understanding of adolescent gun involvement from a developmental perspective.

Can Machine Learning Improve Screening for Targeted Delinquency Prevention Programs?

The cost-effectiveness of targeted delinquency prevention programs for children depends on the accuracy of the screening process. Screening accuracy is often poor, resulting in wasted resources and missed opportunities to avert negative outcomes. This study examined whether screening approaches based on logistic regression or machine learning algorithms could improve accuracy relative to traditional sum-score approaches when identifying boys in the 5th grade (N = 1012) who would be repeatedly arrested for violent and serious crimes from ages 13 to 30. Screening algorithms were developed that incorporated facets of teacher-reported externalizing problems and other known risk factors (e.g., peer rejection). The predictive performance of these algorithms was evaluated and compared in holdout (i.e., test) data using the area under the receiver operating curve (AUROC) and Brier score. Both the logistic and machine learning methods yielded AUROC superior to traditional sum-score screening approaches when a broad set of risk factors for future delinquency was considered. However, this improvement was modest and was not present when using item-level information from a composite scale assessing externalizing problems. Contrary to expectations, machine learning algorithms performed no better than simple logistic models. There was a large apparent advantage of machine learning that disappeared after appropriate cross-validation, underscoring the importance of careful evaluation of these methods. Results suggest that screening using logistic regression could improve the cost-effectiveness of targeted delinquency prevention programs in some cases, but screening using machine learning would confer no marginal benefit under currently realistic conditions.

Proximal predictors of gun violence among adolescent males involved in crime.

The growing public health and legal concerns regarding gun violence has led to a call for research that investigates risk factors for gun violence across a variety of domains. Individual and sociocontextual risk factors have been associated with violence more broadly, and in some instances gun-carrying, however no prior research has investigated the role of these factors in explaining gun violence using longitudinal data. The current study utilized a subsample (N = 161) from the Pathways to Desistance Study, which is a longitudinal sample of serious adolescent offenders to evaluate interindividual and intraindividual differences in relevant risk factors of gun violence. Results suggest that there are a few key proximal individual-level and sociocontextual predictors for gun violence, including witnessing nongun violence, future orientation, and perceived personal rewards to crime. Findings demonstrate the salience of exposure to violence in contributing to gun violence and identify levers of action for public policy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Pathways Linking Childhood SES and Adult Health Behaviors and Psychological Resources in Black and White Men.

Background: Exposure to low socioeconomic status (SES) in childhood predicts increased morbidity and mortality. However, little prospective evidence is available to test pathways linking low childhood SES to adult health. Purpose: In the current study, indirect effects through positive parenting in adolescence and adult SES were tested in the association between childhood SES and adult health behaviors and psychological resources. Methods: Men (n = 305; 53% Black) were followed longitudinally from ages 7 to 32. SES was measured annually in childhood (ages 7-9) and again in adulthood (age 32) using the Hollingshead index. Parenting was assessed annually (ages 13-16) using caregivers' and boys' self-report of supervision, communication, and expectations for their son's future. Health behaviors (cigarette and alcohol use, fruit and vegetable consumption, and physical activity) and psychological resources (optimism, purpose in life, self-mastery, and self-esteem) were assessed in adulthood (age 32). Results: Structural equation modeling showed that higher childhood SES was associated with more positive parenting in adolescence and higher adult SES. Higher childhood SES was indirectly associated with healthier behaviors and higher psychological resources in adulthood through pathways involving positive parenting during adolescence and SES in adulthood. Findings were consistent in both racial groups. Conclusions: Positive parenting in adolescence was an important pathway in understanding associations among childhood SES and health behaviors and psychological resources in adulthood. Low childhood SES was prospectively associated with healthier behaviors and greater psychological resources in part through more positive parenting in adolescence.

Interpersonal Callousness from Childhood to Adolescence: Developmental Trajectories and Early Risk Factors.

Youth with a callous interpersonal style, consistent with features of adult psychopathy (e.g., lack of guilt, deceitful), are at risk for exhibiting severe and protracted antisocial behaviors. However, no studies have examined changes that occur in interpersonal callousness (IC) from childhood to adolescence, and little is known about the influence of early child, social, and contextual factors on trajectories of IC. The current study examined distinct patterns of IC across childhood and adolescence and associations with early risk factors. Participants were an at-risk sample of 503 boys (56% African American) assessed annually from around ages 7-15. Analyses examined child (anger dysregulation, fearfulness), social (peer, family, maltreatment), and contextual (psychosocial adversity) factors associated with teacher-reported IC trajectories across childhood and adolescence. Using latent class growth analysis, five trajectories of IC were identified (early-onset chronic, childhood-limited, adolescent-onset, moderate, low). Approximately 10% of boys followed an early-onset chronic trajectory, and a roughly equal percent of youth followed childhood-limited trajectory (10%) or an adolescent-onset trajectory (12%) of IC across development. Specifically, half of the boys with high IC in childhood did not continue to exhibit significant levels of these features into adolescence, whereas an equal proportion of youth with low IC in childhood demonstrated increasing levels during the transition to adolescence. Boys in the early-onset chronic group were characterized by the most risk factors and were differentiated from those with childhood-limited and adolescent-onset IC only by higher conduct problems, fearlessness, and emotional abuse/neglect. Findings are discussed in terms of developmental models of IC and several avenues for early targeted interventions.

Bullying and Being Bullied in Childhood Are Associated With Different Psychosocial Risk Factors for Poor Physical Health in Men.

Bullying and being bullied in childhood are both linked with later adjustment problems. The impact of childhood bullying on risk for poor physical health in adulthood is understudied. Black and White men ( n = 305; mean age = 32.3 years) enrolled in the Pittsburgh Youth Study since the first grade underwent a comprehensive assessment of psychosocial, behavioral, and biological risk factors for poor health. Indices of bullying and being bullied were created by averaging annual ratings collected from participants and their caregivers when the participants were 10 to 12 years old. Results showed that being a bully in childhood was associated with greater stress and aggression and poorer health behaviors in adulthood, whereas being a victim of bullies in childhood was associated with lower socioeconomic resources, less optimism, and greater unfair treatment in adulthood. Unexpectedly, neither bullying nor being bullied in childhood was related to inflammation or metabolic syndrome. Bullying and being bullied in childhood were associated with distinct domains of psychosocial risk in adulthood that may later lead to poor physical health.

Late childhood interpersonal callousness and conduct problem trajectories interact to predict adult psychopathy.

BACKGROUND: Studies have demonstrated a robust association between interpersonal callousness (IC) and the development of severe and chronic conduct problems (CP) in youth. Although children exhibiting IC are also believed to be at particularly high risk for developing psychopathic personality features in adulthood, there is little longitudinal evidence supporting this assumption, particularly after controlling for co-occuring CP severity. METHODS: This study used data collected on a longitudinal cohort of boys (n = 508), with an oversampling of youth exhibiting elevated conduct problems. Analyses examined the unique and interactive association between latent growth curve trajectories of IC and CP assessed bi-annually from late childhood to early adolescence (~ages 10-13) and features of psychopathy in early adulthood (age ~ 24) assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist - Short Version (PCL:SV; Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). RESULTS: Growth curve analysis indicated that initial levels of IC and CP in childhood (~age 10 intercept) both uniquely predicted the development of the interpersonal/affective features of adult psychopathy, and boys with a combination of high initial levels of IC and CP were at particularly high risk for developing the impulsive/antisocial features of the disorder. Boys who exhibited systematic increases in CP from late childhood to early adolescence also demonstrated higher adult psychopathy scores, but changes in IC across this developmental period did not significantly add to the prediction of adult psychopathy. CONCLUSIONS: Findings highlight the importance of developing targeted interventions for boys exhibiting severe IC and CP in childhood, as they appear to be at high risk for developing adult psychopathic features.

Psychometric Properties of the Original and Short Form of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in Detained Female Adolescents.

This study examines the psychometric properties of the self-report version of the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits in 191 detained female adolescents (M = 15.76, SD = 1.02). Evidence supporting the validity of the ICU scores was generally weak, largely due to poor functioning of the Unemotional subscale. Results from confirmatory factor analyses demonstrated support for a recently proposed shortened version of the ICU consisting of two subscales (Callousness and Uncaring). Both subscales showed acceptable to good internal consistency. This short-form version also improved criterion validity, though some issues regarding its convergent validity need further consideration. In conclusion, this study suggests that a short-form version of the ICU that includes a subset of the original items may hold promise as an efficient and valid method for assessing CU traits.

Antisociality and the Construct of Psychopathy: Data From Across the Globe.

Previous theory and research on the structural, longitudinal, and genetic nature of psychopathy have provided strong conceptual and empirical evidence that overt antisociality is a component of the psychopathy construct (Hare & Neumann, 2008, 2010; Lynam & Miller, 2012). However, determination of the strength of the association between antisociality and other psychopathic features has not been explored systematically. The current article draws on previously published large North American studies, as well as data from across the globe, to estimate the strength and pattern of the associations between overt antisociality and other psychopathic domains in a diverse set of samples. Structural equation modeling was used to estimate model parameters from samples that had data on either the Psychopathy Checklist-Instruments (PCL-R, PCL: YV, PCL: SV) or self-report assessments that have known latent structures (SRP, B-Scan 360). In addition, two relatively large samples (male offenders and young adult males), assessed with both the PCL-R and the SRP, provided an opportunity to examine the link between antisociality and the other psychopathy domains across different assessment methods. The overall findings indicate that the associations were moderate to strong, depending on the nature of the sample, and clearly indicate that antisociality is a core component of the psychopathy construct.

Psychopathic traits as predictors of future criminality, intimate partner aggression, and substance use in young adult men.

This study examined the prospective relation between Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) scores and various negative outcomes in a community sample of young men. Official criminal records and self-reported outcomes, including criminality, physical and relational aggression against intimate partners, and excessive substance use, were obtained on average 5.4 years (records) and 3.5 years (self-reports) after the YPI assessment. Results showed that psychopathic traits measured with the YPI (approximately at age 25) did not significantly contribute to the prediction of future official criminal charges and self-reported crime, physical aggression against intimate partners, and excessive alcohol and marijuana use, after controlling for several covariates. However, results also showed that men with higher scores on the YPI were more likely to commit future acts of relational aggression against their partner, even after controlling for prior relational aggression. This novel finding needs replication, though, and-for now-does not jeopardize the overall conclusion that psychopathic traits as measured with the YPI hardly predict over and above prior criminality and aggression. Altogether, the findings of the present study and their consistency with past research suggest that one should rethink the role of psychopathy measures for risk assessment purposes, at least when these measures do not index prior criminality.

Reactive/proactive aggression and the development of internalizing problems in males: the moderating effect of parent and peer relationships.

The current study examined whether reactive and/or proactive aggression in adolescent males prospectively predicted increased levels of internalizing symptoms (depression and anxiety) in late adolescence. It was postulated that reactive aggression would be robustly related to later internalizing problems, but only among adolescent males who had problematic family or peer social relationships. Participants were a racially diverse group of 289 adolescent males (Mean age = 16). Measures of reactive and proactive aggression, peer rejection, and poor parent-adolescent communication were examined as predictors of both depression and anxiety symptoms assessed approximately 3 years later. The interactive effects between the two facets of aggression and measures of peer rejection and poor parent-adolescent communication in predicting internalizing problems was also examined. Adolescents with high levels of reactive aggression were more likely to exhibit elevated internalizing problems during late adolescence, even when controlling for pre-existing levels of anxiety/depression. However, this association only emerged for adolescents who had high levels of peer rejection and/or poor communication with their parent. Consistent with expectations, proactive aggression was unrelated to internalizing symptoms regardless of social relationship quality. Adolescent reactive, but not proactive, aggression is a risk factor for the development of internalizing problems. However, the findings suggest that interventions designed to foster positive social relationships among reactively aggressive youth may help protect them from developing significant internalizing problems over time.

Scaling up from convictions to self-reported offending.

AIM: The main aims of this article are to estimate the number of offences that are committed for every one that leads to conviction, and to estimate the probability of an offender being convicted. METHOD: In the Pittsburgh Youth Study, 506 boys were followed up from age 13 to age 24 years, in interviews and criminal records. Self-reports and convictions for serious theft, moderate theft, serious violence and moderate violence were compared. RESULTS: On average, 22 offences were self-reported for every conviction. This scaling-up factor increased with age and was the highest for moderate theft and the lowest for serious theft. The probability of a self-reported offender being convicted was 54%. This percentage increased with the frequency and seriousness of offending and was always higher for African American boys than for Caucasian boys. These race differences probably reflected differences in exposure to risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: More research is needed on scaling-up factors, on frequent and serious offenders who are not convicted, on self-reported non-offenders who are convicted and on why African American boys are more likely than Caucasian boys to be convicted.

Callous-unemotional traits robustly predict future criminal offending in young men.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of empathy, deficient guilt/remorse, and shallow affect) are a circumscribed facet of the adult psychopathic personality. Although several studies have found that adult psychopathy is a robust predictor of future criminal offending, research exploring the predictive utility of CU traits and future offending are lacking. Moreover, empirical studies examining the predictive utility of psychopathic features often neglect to account for other well-documented risk factors (e.g., prior offending, delinquent peers, marital status), and thus the incremental predictive utility of CU traits remains uncertain. To address these limitations, the current study examined the unique contribution of CU traits in the prediction of future criminal offending in a large ethnically diverse community sample of young adult males (Mean Age = 25.76, SD = .95). Official criminal record information was collected approximately 3.5 years later using multiple sources. Results indicated that after controlling for several other well-established predictors of future offending, men with elevated CU traits had a greater number of arrests and criminal charges and were more likely to be charged with a serious offense and obstruction of justice. CU traits also predicted future theft for Caucasian men, but not African American men. Overall, the results support the notion that CU traits significantly add to the prediction of future offending, even after controlling for several other risk factors.

Understanding desisting and persisting forms of delinquency: the unique contributions of disruptive behavior disorders and interpersonal callousness.

BACKGROUND: While associations between conduct disorder (CD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and interpersonal callousness (IC) symptoms and delinquency onset are well established, less is known about whether these characteristics differentiate desisting and persisting delinquency. The current study examined whether childhood and adolescent CD, ODD, ADHD, and IC symptoms uniquely distinguished boys who exhibited persisting versus desisting delinquency from adolescence into adulthood. METHODS: Participants were 503 boys (57% African American) repeatedly assessed from ages 7 to 25. Associations between childhood and adolescent CD, ODD, ADHD, and IC symptoms and desisting and persisting delinquency were examined independently and after controlling for their co-occurrence and multiple covariates. RESULTS: Conduct disorder and IC symptoms in childhood and adolescence were higher among boys whose delinquency persisted into adulthood relative to those boys whose delinquency desisted across time. After controlling for the overlap between symptoms of ADHD, ODD, CD and IC, only adolescent CD and IC symptoms emerged as unique predictors of the differentiation between persisters and desisters. Moreover, adolescent CD and IC symptoms continued to contribute unique variance even after childhood levels of these characteristics were accounted for. CONCLUSIONS: Boys with elevated levels of CD and IC symptoms in childhood and adolescence are at risk for exhibiting a pattern of delinquency that persists from adolescence into adulthood. Intervention efforts designed to prevent chronic delinquency should target youth with co-occurring CD and IC symptoms in childhood and adolescence.

Perceptions of aggressive conflicts and others' distress in children with callous-unemotional traits: 'I'll show you who's boss, even if you suffer and I get in trouble'.

BACKGROUND: Children with callous-unemotional (CU) traits may have a particularly malevolent view of social conflicts and a pervasive insensitivity to others' distress. The current study examined whether children with CU traits have unique expectations and values regarding the consequences of aggressive conflicts and a ubiquitous lack of concern for others' feelings independent of co-occurring aggression. METHODS: Participants were 96 (46 males, 50 females) children recruited from elementary schools within an urban city. Associations between CU traits and child reports of outcome expectancies/values following aggressive conflicts and facets of empathy were examined after controlling for aggression, academic abilities, and demographic covariates. RESULTS: Children with higher CU traits were less likely to expect that aggression would result in victim suffering and feelings of remorse. After controlling for co-occurring aggression, children with higher CU traits were more likely to expect that aggression would result in peer dominance, while children with higher levels of aggression were more likely to expect that attacking others would reduce their aversive behavior. Children with higher CU traits were less concerned that aggressive behavior would result in punishment, victim suffering, and feelings of remorse. Moreover, children with higher CU traits reported lower levels of empathetic concern and sadness in response to others' distress outside of aggressive conflicts. CONCLUSIONS: Children with CU traits tend to minimize the extent to which aggression causes victim suffering and openly acknowledge caring less about distress and suffering in others. They are less intimidated by the possibility of being punished for aggressive behavior and tend to view aggression as an effective means for dominating others. In sum, children with CU traits have a particularly malicious social schema that may be difficult to change using conventional treatment methods.

Contextual risk factors as predictors of disruptive behavior disorder trajectories in girls: the moderating effect of callous-unemotional features.

BACKGROUND: The presence of callous-unemotional (CU) features may delineate a severe and persistent form of conduct problems in children with unique developmental origins. Contextual risk factors such as poor parenting, delinquent peers, or neighborhood risk are believed to influence the development of conduct problems primarily in children with low levels of CU features. However, longitudinal studies examining the moderating effect of CU features on the relation between contextual risk factors and conduct problems trajectories in girls are rare. METHODS: Growth curve analysis was conducted using five annual measurements of oppositional defiant disorder/conduct disorder (ODD/CD) behaviors in a community sample of 1,233 girls aged 7-8 at study onset. The relation between contextual risk factors in multiple domains (i.e., family, peer, community) and trajectories of ODD/CD behaviors across time were examined for girls with differing levels of CU features. RESULTS: Growth curve analysis indicated that CU features were associated with chronically high levels of ODD/CD symptoms over time. Low levels of parental warmth were also associated with chronically high levels of ODD/CD, and this effect was particularly pronounced for girls with high CU features. Exposure to harsh parenting was associated with higher ODD/CD behaviors for girls in childhood regardless of their level of CU features, but this effect dissipated over time. CONCLUSIONS: Girls with elevated CU features who are exposed to low levels of parental warmth seem to exhibit particularly severe ODD/CD symptoms and should be targeted for intensive intervention in childhood.

The relation between adolescent social competence and young adult delinquency and educational attainment among at-risk youth: the mediating role of peer delinquency.

OBJECTIVE: We examined trajectories of adolescent social competence as a resilience factor among at-risk youth. To examine potential mechanisms of this resilience process, we investigated the putative mediating effect of peer delinquency on the relation between adolescent social competence and young adult delinquency seriousness and educational attainment. METHOD: Participants (n = 257) were screened to be at risk for antisocial behaviour at age 13 years. Data were derived from an ongoing longitudinal study of the development of antisocial and delinquent behaviour among inner-city boys, the Pittsburgh Youth Study. We used data collected from participants when aged 13 years until they were aged 25.5 years for our study. RESULTS: Results indicated that boys with high levels of social competence decreased their involvement with deviant peers throughout adolescence, which, in turn, predicted less serious forms of delinquency in early adulthood. Social competence had a direct effect on educational attainment in early adulthood, as boys who developed social competencies in adolescence went further in school irrespective of their involvement with delinquent peers. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that promoting the development of social competencies and reducing involvement with delinquent peers will protect at-risk youth from engaging in serious delinquency in early adulthood while increasing their educational success.

Pathways connecting family socioeconomic status in adolescence and sleep continuity in adult Black and White men.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the roles of parenting and adolescent characteristics during ages 13 to 16 in connecting family socioeconomic status (SES) during adolescence with adult sleep in Black and White men. DESIGN: Longitudinal school-based community study beginning in 1987-1988 when participants were enrolled in the first or seventh grade. SETTING: Pittsburgh, PA. PARTICIPANTS: 291 men (54.4% Black, mean age = 33, SD = 2.5) participated in 2012-2014 in a week-long study of sleep measured by actigraphy and diary. MEASURES: In adolescence (ages 13-16), measures of family SES based on occupation, education, income and public assistance; parenting based on monitoring, positive expectations for future, warm parent-child relationship, and communication; and adolescent characteristics based on anxiety, hyperactivity/impulsivity, and peer rejection.  In adulthood, participant SES, minutes awake after sleep onset (WASO), duration, and diary-assessed sleep quality. RESULTS: Structural equation modeling confirmed significant indirect pathways: (1) low family SES in adolescence to negative parenting to low adult SES to greater WASO; (2) low family SES in adolescence to adolescent characteristics to low adult SES to greater WASO; (3) Black race to low family SES in adolescence to negative parenting to low adult SES to greater WASO; and (4) Black race to low family SES in adolescence to adolescent characteristics to adult SES to greater WASO. Similar models for duration and quality were not confirmed. CONCLUSIONS: Parenting and adolescent characteristics may have an indirect association with adult sleep continuity. Parenting and mental health interventions in adolescence may improve adult sleep.

Neural responses to emotional and neutral facial expressions in chronically violent men.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal neural responses to others' emotions, particularly cues of threat and distress, have been implicated in the development of chronic violence. We examined neural responses to several emotional cues within a prospectively identified group of chronically violent men. We also explored the association between neural responses to social emotions and psychopathic features. METHODS: We compared neural responses to happy, sad, angry, fearful and neutral faces between chronically violent (n = 22) and nonviolent (n = 20) men using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Participants were prospectively identified from a longitudinal study based on information collected from age 7 to 27 years. We assessed psychopathic features using a self-report measure administered in adulthood. RESULTS: The chronically violent men exhibited significantly reduced neural responses in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex to all faces, regardless of the emotional content, compared with nonviolent men. We also observed a hyperactive amygdala response to neutral faces in chronically violent men, but only within the context of viewing happy faces. Moreover, they exhibited a greater dorsomedial prefrontal cortex response to mildly fearful faces than nonviolent men. These abnormalities were not associated with psychopathic features in chronically violent men. LIMITATIONS: It remains unclear whether the observed neural abnormalities preceded or are a consequence of persistent violence, and these results may not generalize to chronically violent women. CONCLUSION: Chronically violent men exhibit a reduced neural response to facial cues regardless of emotional content. It appears that chronically violent men may view emotionally ambiguous facial cues as potentially threatening and implicitly re-interpret subtle cues of fear in others so they no longer elicit a negative response.

Perspectives on oppositional defiant disorder, conduct disorder, and psychopathic features.

This paper presents a few perspectives on oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), conduct disorder (CD), and early forms of psychopathy. The developmental changes and stability of each, and the interrelationship between the three conditions are reviewed, and correlates and predictors are highlighted. The paper also examines effective interventions for each of the three conditions and makes recommendations for future research.