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Abstract
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In this paper we review the existing longitudinal research on violent criminal behavior. Although interested in comparative research on this topic, we found that virtually all of the longitudinal studies comprised individuals from Western societies. The primary issue we examine concerns the extent to which there are universal patterns of violent behavior over the life course. Based on the available evidence, our best guess is that universal patterns do not exist. It cannot be answered definitively, however, to what extent sociocultural variations in violence reflect differences in opportunity structures or differences in developmental trajectories and transitions over the life course. In order to address these issues, specific recommendations for future research, both within countries and cross-nationally, are presented and discussed.
VioLit summary:
OBJECTIVE:
The objective of this study by Laub and Lauritsen was to review the literature on violent behavior to identify any possible universal patterns. The developmental model of aggression and violence developed by Sampson and Laub was used to guide the review.
METHODOLOGY:
The authors employed a design based on a non-experimental critical review of the literature.
FINDINGS/DISCUSSION:
The authors first described the life course model of informal social control. The authors described this model as focusing on the "...role of age-graded informal social control as reflected in the structure of interpersonal bonds linking members of society to one another and to wider social institutions such as work, family, and school" (p. 236). The authors summarized this perspective as follows: 1) structural context is mediated by informal social controls which in turn explain crime and delinquency in childhood and adolescence, 2) there is a continuity of antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood, and 3) adult informal social controls explain changes in behavior during the transition from adolescence to adulthood. The authors only attempted to find universal patterns consistent with this perspective and its three main points.
Next the authors began reviewing the literature to identify universal patterns of violence that would not vary across sociocultural contexts. First, the authors cited a number of consistent the idea that informal social controls cause delinquency and aggression such as, perinatal difficulties, childhood temperament, low IQ, poor family functioning and childrearing, and academic failure. However, while many different studies have found evidence that these factors are causes of delinquency and aggression, the authors claimed that they could not be considered universal because causal inferences remain unclear and these findings have only resulted from the analysis of samples taken in Western countries.
Second, the authors reviewed findings concerning the continuity of aggressive behaviors across the life course. They found that the continuity of aggressive behaviors is one of the most consistent and reported findings in the literature. Moreover, the authors noted that this finding has been reported in analyses of samples from a variety of places, such as Philadelphia, Boston, Kauai, Montreal, London, Sweden, Finland, and Norway, historical periods, and methods of reporting, such as official records, teacher ratings, parent reports, and self reports. Thus, the authors conclude that the stability of aggression is one of the most well documented findings in the criminological literature, a point acknowledged by many. In addition, the authors cited the finding that this continuity involves a wide range of behaviors. Studies found that single behaviors were not consistently displayed across the life course. They found a consistency in a generalized antisocial behavioral repertoire across the life course. The authors refused, however, to claim that consistency in delinquency and aggression is a universal because all of the studies which have reported this finding originated from Western countries. Based on their theoretical perspective, they claimed that this finding will likely never be proven universal. They argued that if informal social control processes are intermediate influences between past and future aggression, as their developmental model suggests, then sociocultural context will have a substantial effect on continuity because it will influence the types and strengths of these control processes.
Lastly, the authors examined the issue of change as a universal pattern. They argued that while many studies report continuity, they also report that most individuals who commit aggressive acts do not commit aggressive acts in the future. The authors claimed that this supported the notion that behavioral change is a candidate for a universal pattern. However, because the exploration of behavioral change is rather new in the criminological community, the authors refused to identify it as a universal pattern.
AUTHORS' RECOMMENDATIONS:
The authors made several recommendations for future research to better our chances in identifying universal patterns of aggressive and violent behavior. First, the authors recommended a research strategy that combined both comparative longitudinal and ethnographic approaches. They argued that this strategy would best address the issues of behavioral continuity and change. The authors suggested that the ethnographic approach would best address the sociocultural variation in family and childrearing practices. The authors argued that this would assist quantitative comparative studies in operationalizing difficult concepts involving family and childrearing practices in non-Western countries. They further argued that comparative longitudinal analysis would then be able to assess the role of sociocultural context in violence causation. Aside from this more programmatic recommendation, the authors argued that researchers need to begin to examine the sociocultural variation that exists both across and within groups in the United States.
(CSPV Abstract - Copyright © 1992-2007 by the Center for the Study and Prevention of Violence, Institute of Behavioral Science, Regents of the University of Colorado)
Life Course
Sociocultural Factors
Comparative Analysis
Violence Causes
Cross-National Comparison
Cross-Cultural Comparison
Longitudinal Studies
Crime Causes
Behavior Effects
Behavior Causes
Aggression Effects
Aggression Causes
Child Aggression
Child Antisocial Behavior
Child Behavior
Child Problem Behavior
Child Crime
Child Violence
Child Offender
Juvenile Aggression
Juvenile Antisocial Behavior
Juvenile Behavior
Juvenile Crime
Juvenile Problem Behavior
Juvenile Offender
Juvenile Violence
Adult Aggression
Adult Crime
Adult Antisocial Behavior
Adult Behavior
Adult Problem Behavior
Adult Offender
Adult Violence
Literature Review
Language: en |