NCJ Number
218244
Journal
Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency Volume: 44 Issue: 2 Dated: May 2007 Pages: 185-207
Date Published
May 2007
Length
23 pages
Annotation
This study examined a new hypothesis proffered by Moffitt in 2003 that life-course-persistent offenders are at a higher risk to experience adverse physical and mental health outcomes.
Abstract
The results led to three specific findings. First, life-course-persistent offenders were more likely than adolescence-limited offenders to experience at least one adverse physical health outcome by ages 27 to 33. Second, life-course-persistent offenders were more likely to experience psychological distress, an adverse mental health outcome. Lastly, an indirect effect for life-course-persistent offending on adverse health outcomes was found. Life-course-persistent offenders were more likely than adolescence-limited offenders to be involved in antisocial lifestyles that were related to adverse physical and mental health outcomes. The analysis suggests one potential path linking offending to health-related outcomes that is through differential involvement in antisocial lifestyles. In 1993, Moffitt’s developmental taxonomy of adolescence-limited and life-course-persistent offenders received significant empirical attention. It sought to explain the aggregate age-crime curve by hypothesizing the existence of two distinct offender groups: life-course-persistent offenders and adolescence-limited offenders. Recently, Moffitt articulated a new hypothesis stating that life-course-persistent offenders would be at high risk in mid-life for poor physical and mental health, cardiovascular disease, and early disease morbidity. By using data from the Baltimore, MD portion of the National Collaborative Perinatal Project, a longitudinal study of several thousand individuals followed from birth to ages 27 to 33, this hypothesis was tested. Tables, notes, and references