Effects of Prenatal Problems, Family Functioning, and Neighborhood Disadvantage in Predicting Life-Course-Persistent Offending

• NCJ Number: 220322
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 34 Issue: 10 Dated: October 2007 Pages: 1241-1261
• Author(s): Michael G. Turner; Jennifer L. Hartman; Donna M. Bishop
• Date Published: October 2007
• Length: 21 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Report (Study/Research)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this study tested Moffitt's biosocial hypothesis (Neuropsychological deficits interact with disadvantaged family environments to predict "life-course-persistent" offending) across different neighborhood and racial contexts.

Abstract

The study found that within the full sample, biosocial interaction failed to predict "life-course-persistent" offending, defined as problem behavior in early childhood that evolves into antisocial behavior well into adulthood. The biosocial interaction predicted life-course-persistent offending only for individuals living in the most disadvantaged neighborhoods. Further, when the data were analyzed by race and neighborhood characteristics, the biosocial interaction was only a significant predictor of life-course-persistent offending for non-Whites living in disadvantaged neighborhoods. Although Whites and non-Whites were not different in their exposure to sources of prenatal problems (biological), they did experience significant differences in the social environments in which they were raised. These findings are consistent with prior research on the racial concentration of neighborhood and family disadvantage. Study data were obtained from the child-mother data of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. This involved a separate biennial data collection begun in 1986 that included detailed assessments of each child born to females in the original data cohort (1979). For the current study, the analyses focused on a subsample of 513 individuals who were age 15 by 1994 and who provided valid interviews during the years 1994, 1996, and 1998. Life-course-persistent offending was measured by self-reported involvement in violent offending and offending chronology. Independent variables were the prenatal problem index, the family disadvantage index, neighborhood disadvantage, and biosocial interaction. 4 tables, 5 notes, 89 references, and appended items used for the delinquency scale