Chapter 2: origins of criminal behavior/dev. of risk factors Flashcards
Developmental pathway
Term used in developmental perspective, views the life course of all humans as following a path that may be littered with risk factors.
Protective factors
Characteristics or experiences that can shield children from serious antisocial behavior
Social Risk factors
Poverty, limited resources, antisocial peers, peer rejection, preschool/school experiences
Parental and family risk factors
faulty or inadequate parenting, sibling influences, child abuse
Psychological risk factors
inadequate cognitive and language ability, lack of empathy, poor interpersonal/social skills, behavioral disorders.
Cumulative Risk (CR) model
Accumulation of risk factors in the absence of sufficient protective factors results in negative behavioral, emotional, and cognitive outcomes. Predicts that the greater number of risks experienced by a child or adolescent, the greater the prevalence of mental health, cognitive deficits, and behavioral problems they may have.
Developmental cascade model (dynamic cascade model)
introduced by Kenneth Dodge and Ann Masten.
Similar to CR model, but in addition to noting multiple risks, it highlights the interaction among risk factors and their effect on outcomes over the course of development. A person’s developmental skills of deficits enhance, affect, or determine the next skill or deficit over a life course trajectory (reminiscent of Erikson’s life crisis)
Resilience
the ability to bounce back quickly and adaptively from negative emotional experiences.
Poverty
A situation in which the basic resources to maintain an average standard living within a specific geographic region are lacking. Defined in U.S. as $22,000 per year for a family of 4.
Peer rejection
One of the strongest predictors of later involvement in antisocial behavior is early rejection by peers. Evidence of cascade effect, where conduct disorders –> peer rejection –> depressive symptoms
Groups of thought on influence of peer groups:
1) youngsters become delinquent as a direct result of association with deviant peer groups
2) antisocial, peer-rejected youths seek out greater contact with other peer-rejected, antisocial peers.
3) Peer-rejected, antisocial children are drawn to deviant groups with members similar to themselves, which amplifies already existing antisocial tendencies.
Parental practices
Strategies employed by parents to achieve specific academic, social, or athletic goals across different contexts and situations.
Parental styles
Refer to parent-child interactions characterized by parental attitudes toward the child and the emotional climate of the parent-child relationship
Four types of parental styles
associated with Diana Baumrind
- Authoritarian
- Permissive
- Authoritative
- Neglecting
Authoritarian style
Used by parents who try to shape, control, and evaluate the behavior of their children in accordance with their absolute standards. Characterized by rigid standards, to be obeyed without question or explanation
Permissive style
Used by parents who display tolerant, accepting attitudes toward their children’s behavior, including expressions of aggression and sexual impulses. Avoid asserting authority, tries to be a friend first and parent last.
Authoritative style
Used by parents who try to direct their children’s activities in a rational, issue-oriented manner. Expect age-appropriate behavior from children, applying firm and consistent standard yet encouraging individual thinking and independence.
Neglecting style
Used by parents who demonstrate little to no attachment or involvement in their child’s life. Neglecting parenting was one of the strongest risk factors identified with delinquency and a life of crime.
Enmeshed style
Associated with James Snyder and Gerald Patterson - two parenting styles that correspond with delinquency:
Parents see unusually large number of minor behaviors as problematic, using ineffective, authoritarian strategies to deal with them.
Lax style
James Snyder/Gerald Patterson
similar to neglecting style, parents are not sufficiently attuned to what constitutes problematic or antisocial behavior in children, allowing much to slip by without disciplinary action .
Parental monitering
Refers to parents’ awareness of their child’s peer associates, free-time activities, and physical whereabouts when outside the home. monitored youths are less likely to engage in delinquent and antisocial behavior.
Attachment theory
John Bowlby
Suggesting that the early relationship between an infant and a caregiver largely determines the quality of social relationships later in life.
Secure attachement
Infants who play comfortably when with parent, show distress when parent leaves, but can adjust and then is happy when parent returns. They use their parent as a secure base from which to explore.
Insecure attachement
Divided into Anxious/Ambivalent and Avoidant styles
Anxious/Ambivalent Insecure Attachment
Infant becomes intensely distressed by separation, clinging to parent without exploring around them. Who parent returns they become indifferent or even hostile, pushing parent away or crying when picked up again.
Avoidant Insecure Attachment
Infant shows little to no distress whether parent is present or not. Rarely cry during separation or reunion, and often leads to dismissing attachment in adulthood.
Language Impairment
Refers to problems expressing or understanding language. When occurring in early childhood, research shows language impairment to produce a serious cascading effect on healthy academic and social development.
Psychometric approach
means “psychological measurement”, and is a term for IQ testing
Psychometric Intelligence (PI)
What psychologists refer to when speaking of IQ tests and results, but the term has not caught on with the public.
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD)
Central three behaviors are 1) inattention - does not seem to listen, is easily distracted. 2) impulsivity - acts before thinking, shifts quickly from one activity to another. 3) excessive motor activity - cannot sit still, fidgets, runs about, is noisy and talkative . Is the leading psychological diagnosis for American children.
Self-regulation
Refers to the ability to control one’s own behavior. It is not so much “not knowing” as “not doing”.
Conduct Disorder (CD)
Characterized by persistent misbehavior including bullying, fighting, using or threatening weapon use on others, physical cruelty to people and animals, destruction of property, chronic deceitfulness, sexual assaults, and serious violations of rules. The patterns of behavior being “repetitive” and “persistent” are key to diagnosis. Isolated instances do not qualify as CD.
Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD)
Also called disruptive behavior disorders (DBD). Children and adolescents display a persistent pattern of angry outbursts, arguments, vindictiveness, resentment, and disobedience. Often is something a child grows out of, and does not have the serious correlation to delinquency as CD does.
ADHD, ODD, CD…tied together
“delinquent boys usually traverse a developmental pathway that begins with severe hyperactive/impulsive behaviors as early as toddlerhood, followed by ODD in preschool, early-onset CD in elementary school, substance abuse disorders (SUDs) in adolescence, and antisocial personality in adulthood.”
