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Age at onset of problem behaviour in boys, and later disruptive and delinquent behaviours
Author(s) -
Loeber Rolf,
Stouthamer-Loeber Magda,
Green Stephanie M.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
criminal behaviour and mental health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1471-2857
pISSN - 0957-9664
DOI - 10.1002/cbm.1991.1.3.229
Subject(s) - juvenile delinquency , aggression , psychology , developmental psychology , intervention (counseling) , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , poison control , psychiatry , medicine , medical emergency
The paper reports on the relationship between boys’ easy‐not easy status in the preschool years and the youngsters’ pattern of aggressive, hyperactive and withdrawn behaviours at ages 10–16 years. At follow‐up 5 years later, when the boys were 15–21 years of age, children originally reported by their parents as not easy had an officially reported rate of delinquency that was twice as high as that of children reported easy. About one in five of the problematic children had become multiple offenders, compared to one in twenty for the easy children. In addition, the self‐reported delinquency rate of the problematic children was significantly higher than that of the easy children, with a marginally significant trend for the former to have engaged in serious antisocial acts. The relationship between early problem status in the preschool years and the rate of offending up to ages 15–21 years held when various aspects regarding the quality of the parents’ child‐rearing practices had been partialled out. The early problem status was more related to the later development of aggression‐stealing and aggression‐hyperactive than with aggression‐withdrawn behaviour patterns. The implications of the findings for intervention are discussed.