NCJ Number
136089
Date Published
1992
Length
35 pages
Annotation
This chapter reports on the methodology and findings of the CLS project, which plotted social development in a representative sample of boys and girls from childhood through early adulthood, with attention to the sociogenesis of aggressive and antisocial behavior.
Abstract
The research design was longitudinal, multimethod, and multilevel. Data collection began in 1981. The subjects were initially located in the schools of four communities in the Atlantic Coast region. A total of 220 children in the fourth grade were selected from four elementary schools, and 475 adolescents were selected from the seventh grade of three middle schools. Overall, the sample was representative of the respective counties in the study in terms of race and socioeconomic status. Within the larger sample, 20 girls and 20 boys were judged by teachers, counselors, and principals to be highly aggressive. An additional group of 40 nonaggressive control subjects was identified and matched individually on the basis of sex, race, classroom attendance, physical size, socioeconomic status, and chronological age. In 1989-90, all living subjects from the original research sample were relocated and their school status determined. Information was obtained from teachers, peers, parents, social networks, courts, probation departments, school records, school yearbooks, and interviews with the subjects. Measures pertained to social network assessment, behavioral interactions, teacher evaluations of social competence, self-evaluations of social competence, peer attributions and nominations, and maturational status. The findings indicate that the incidence of physical aggression diminished with age, especially in boys; and social aggression increased from childhood to adolescence, then remained at a high level in girls. A discussion of longitudinal designs is included. 7 notes and 64 references