Neuropsychological Deficit and Self-Reported Delinquency in an Unselected Birth Cohort

• NCJ Number: 124420
• Journal: Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Volume: 27 Issue: 2 Dated: (1988) Pages: 233-240
• Author(s): T E Moffitt; P A Silva
• Date Published: 1988
• Length: 8 pages
• Grant Number(s): 1-R23-MH-42723-01
• Sponsoring Agency: US Dept of Health and Human Services
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Research (Applied/Empirical)
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

This longitudinal study investigates the health, development, and behavior of a complete cohort of consecutive births between April 1972 and March 1973 in Dunedin, New Zealand, in order to determine whether there is a relationship between neuropsychological status and self-reported delinquency, whether specific interpretable patterns of cognitive deficit characterize delinquents, and whether these patterns contribute unique variance to delinquency.

Abstract

The Self-Reported Early Delinquency instrument, which includes validity checks and a score weighted for item seriousness, was administered, as was a 50-minute neuropsychological assessment. In addition, a measure of social-class related factors was calculated to account for low parental education, low parental income, single parent status, large family size, poor maternal mental health, and poor family social environment. The results of this controlled study replicated previous findings of neuropsychological deficits in juvenile delinquents. The findings were especially significant give the young age of the subjects and the relatively less serious nature of their offenses; many of the delinquents in this study can be expected to develop more serious delinquency as they grow older. The study found deficits in verbal and memory skills and functions of visuospatial-motor integration, although there was no evidence of a delinquency-related deficit in executive functions. The family adversity and neuropsychological measures were negatively correlated, suggesting that family factors are not independent from cognitive development in increasing risk of delinquency, but that these factors may work together to produce risk. Innovative techniques to intervene with learning disabled children who have neuropsychological etiologies may lead to interventions for children at risk of developing serious delinquent lifestyles. 1 table, 1 appendix. 49 references. (Author abstract modified)