Chapter 7: The Development of Delinquent and Criminal Behavior

Question 1

Conduct disorder

Answer 1

A diagnostic designation used to represent a group of behaviors characterized by habitual misbehavior, such as stealing, setting fires, running away from home, skipping school, destroying property, fighting, or being cruel to animals.

Question 2

Antisocial behavior

Answer 2

Any behavior that is considered a violation of social norms in society; antisocial behaviors may or may not be defined as crimes.

Reserved for serious habitual misbehavior, which involves actions that are directly harmful to the well-being of others

Question 3

Antisocial personality disorder (APD or ASP)

Answer 3

A disorder characterized by a history of continuous behavior in which the rights of others are violated.

Psychiatric diagnostic label reserved primarily for adults at least 18 years old who displayed conduct disorder as children or adolescents and who continue serious offending well into adulthood

Question 4

The Moffitt developmental theory

Answer 4

Indicated that delinquency could be best understood if we viewed it as progressing along two developmental paths

One that began early in a child’s life and launched the child into a career of lifetime offending

One that was restricted to adolescence

Question 5

Life course-persistent offenders (LCPs)

Answer 5

Offenders who demonstrate a lifelong pattern of antisocial behavior and who are often resistant to treatment or rehabilitation.

Question 6

LCPs exhibit inherited or acquired neurological problems during their childhood

Answer 6

Difficult temperaments as infants, attention deficit disorders or hyperactivity in elementary school, and additional learning problems during their later school years.

Question 7

Adolescent-limited offenders (ALs)

Answer 7

Individuals who usually demonstrate delinquent or antisocial behavior only during their teen years and then stop offending during their young adult years.

Question 8

AL delinquent most likely to be involved in offenses that…

Answer 8

Symbolize adult privilege and demonstrate autonomy from parental control

Vandalism, theft, drug and alcohol offenses, and other status offenses like running away or truancy

Offenses lack the cruelty and violence typical of LCPs

Question 9

Steinberg’s dual-systems model

Answer 9

Theoretical model that offers a neurological explanation for Moffitt’s adolescence-limited offenders

Steinberg hypothesizes
That reward seeking and impulsivity develop along different timetables and have different neurological influences during adolescent and young adult development

Question 10

Developmental dual systems model

Answer 10

Proposed by Laurence Steinberg, it refers to the difference in cognitive and emotional brain development in adolescents, making them more prone to sensation-seeking and risk-taking behaviors.

Question 11

Human brain does not reach full maturity until

Answer 11

Around age 25

Question 12

Externalizing disorders

Answer 12

Maladaptive behaviors directed at an individual’s environment, such as acting out, antisocial behavior, deceitfulness, hostility, violations of rules and social norms, vindictiveness, and aggression.

Disruptive behaviors lead to what psychologists call externalizing problems

Conduct disorder

Question 13

Internalizing disorders

Answer 13

Maladaptive behaviors that are directed toward the self, such as suicide, depression, or unusual low self-esteem or confidence.

Question 14

Prominent features of Moffitt’s LCPs

Answer 14

1) hyperactive-impulsive attention problems
2) conduct problems (or externalizing problems)
3) deficient cognitive ability
4) poor interpersonal or social skills (often resulting in peer rejection)

Question 15

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD)

Answer 15

Traditionally considered a chronic neurological condition characterized by developmentally poor attention, impulsivity, and hyperactivity. More contemporary perspectives also see the behavioral pattern as a deficiency in interpersonal skills.

Question 16

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)

Answer 16

In children, this is a disorder whose symptoms include arguing with adults, refusing adults’ requests, deliberately trying to annoy others, blaming others for mistakes, and being spiteful or vindictive.

Question 17

The most common problem associated with ADHD

Answer 17

Delinquency and substance abuse

Question 18

The central feature of conduct disorder

Answer 18

Repetitive and persistent pattern of behavior that violates the basic rights of others

Question 19

Psychopath

Answer 19

An individual who demonstrates a distinct behavioral pattern that differs from the general population in its lack of sensitivity, empathy, compassion, and guilt. Often involved in antisocial-including criminal-activity. Distinguished from the sociopath in that psychopathy is believed to have a biological origin associated with an inordinate need for stimulation.

Question 20

Criminal psychopath

Answer 20

Psychopaths who demonstrate a wide range of persistent antisocial behavior

Tend to be dominant, manipulative individuals characterized by an impulsive, risk-taking and antisocial lifestyle

Question 21

Antisocial personality disorder

Answer 21

Defined in the DSM-5

An individual who exhibits a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, occurring since age 15 years

Question 22

Antisocial personality disorder appears closely aligned with

Answer 22

The persistent offender

The LCP offender

Question 23

Do psychopathy and ASP reflect the same underlying psychopathology?

Answer 23

No

Question 24

Psychopathology Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Answer 24

Developed by Robert Hare, it is the best-known and most heavily researched instrument for the measurement of criminal psychopathy.

The most popular