Sex Differences in Antisocial Behaviors from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A Test of the General Theory of Crime

Marie-Pier Robitaille,1 Isabelle Ouellet-Morin,1,2 Franca Cortoni,1,3 Eric Lacourse,1,2 Sylvana M. Côté,1,2 Frank Vitaro1,2 & Richard E. Tremblay1,2

11-8

- 57%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60% Adolescence Adulthood

Portion of Sex Differences Explained by Self-Control

Participants N = 3007 (1587 males and 1420 females) from the Quebec longitudinal study of kindergarten children.

Self-Reported Measures and Clinical Interviews

Official measures Juvenile(12–17y.)andadult(18–26y.)criminalrecords.

Analyses ConfirmatoryFactorialAnalysis(CFA)HierarchicalandZeroInflatedNegaGveBinomial(ZINB)regressionsLogisGcregressionsandGeneralLinearModels(GLM)

Method

6–12years 13years 15years 20–23yearsInformants Mother,Teachers ParGcipant ParGcipant ParGcipant

Instruments

SocialBehaviorQues0onnaire

(SBQ)

Self-ReportedDelinquencyQues0onnaire

(SRDQ)

Diagnos0cInterview

Schedule(DIS)forChildren

CalendarapproachDIS

R-ConflictTac0csScale

Measures Poorself-control

OveralloffendingViolentbehaviorsAgainstproperty

Vandalism

Conductdisorder

OveralloffendingViolentbehaviorsAgainstproperty

AnGsocialpersonalitydesorder(ASPD)

InGmatepartnerviolence(IPV)

Poorself-control

HyperacGvity Irritability ReacGveAggression Impulsivity DistracGon

NOTES.Standardized.χ2=5.722,df=2,p≤0.05.RMSEA=0.025,CFI=1.000,TLI=.998,SRMR=0.004.***p<0.001

.75***(.01)

.70***(.01)

.74***(.03) .98***

(.01) .68***(.01)

Objectives 1) TestwhetherSCissimilarlyassociatedwithABinmalesandfemales;2) TestifSCexplainstheenGretyofdifferencesbetweenthesetwogroups.

Introduction Factor Loading to the Estimation of Poor Self-Control using CFA

Antisocial Behavior in Adolescence According to Sex Results

0

20

40

60

80

100

Overalloffending

Violentbehaviors

Aainstproperty

Vandalism Conductdisorder

Criminalrecord

Violentoffence

Non-violentoffence

Boys

Girls

***

*** ***

***

******

******

Antisocial Behavior in Adulthood According to Sex

0

20

40

60

80

100

Overalloffending

Violentbehavior

Againstproperty

AnGsocialpersonalitydisorder

InGmatepartnerviolence

Criminalrecord

Violentoffence

Non-violentoffence

Men

Womenn.s.**

******

*

***

******

Sex Differences in Self-Control

*p<0.05**p<0.01***p<0.001

Poorself-Control

Girls

Boys

t=15.27***p<0.001

***

Distinction between the Frequency/Diversity VS Occurrence of AB

The Specific Case of Intimate Partner Violence

Conclusions

•  MorewomenthanmenusedbothpsychologicalandphysicalIPV;•  AtequallevelsofSC,womenengageinevenmoreIPVthanmen.

•  Boysandmenengagedinmorean<socialbehaviorsthangirlsandwomen,withtheexcepGonofinGmatepartnerviolence.Thissexdifferencevariedaccordingtodevelopmentalperiods,natureofthebehaviorsandtypeofmeasures;

•  TheassociaGonbetweenself-controlandanGsocialbehaviorswassimilarformalesandfemalesinbothadolescenceandadulthood;

•  Resultssuggestthatself-controlwasmainlyassociatedwiththefrequency/diversityofAB,ratherthanwithitspresence/absence;

•  Self-controlISNOTthesoledrivingforcebehindsexdifferencesinanGsocialbehaviors.

Implications It persists when sex is controlled for.

REFERENCES.Fergusson,DM.,Boden,JM.&Horwood,LJ.(2013).ChildhoodSelf-ControlandAdultOutcomes:Resultsfroma30-YearLongitudinalStudy.JournaloftheAmericanAcademyofChildandAdolescentPsychiatry52(7):709–17.|Gonredson,MR&Hirschi,T.(1990)AGeneralTheoryofCrime.Standford,California:StandfordUniversityPress.|Moffiq,TE.,Arseneault,L.,Belsky,D.,Dickson,N.,Hancox,Harrington,H.,Houts,R.,etal.(2011).AGradientofChildhoodSelf-ControlPredictsHealth,Wealth,andPublicSafety.ProceedingsoftheNa0onalAcademyofSciencesoftheUnitedStatesofAmerica108(7):2693–98.|Moffiq,TE.,CaspiA.,Ruqer,M.&Silva,PA.(2001).SexDifferencesinAn0socialBehavior:ConductDisorder,Delinquency,andViolenceintheDunedinLongitudinalStudy.NewYork,NY:CambridgeUniversityPress.|Praq,TC.&Cullen,FT.(2000).TheEmpiricalStatusofGonredsonandHirschi’sGeneralTheoryofCrime:AMeta-Analysis.Criminology38(3):931–64.|Ruqer,M.,Caspi,A.&Moffiq,TE.2003.UsingSexDifferencesinPsychopathologytoStudyCausalMechanisms:UnifyingIssuesandResearchStrategies.JournalofChildPsychologyandPsychiatry44(8):1092–1115.|

•  OtherfactorsthatbiologicallyandsociallydifferenGatemalesandfemalesshouldbetakenintoaccountinordertounderstandsexdifferencesinanGsocialbehaviors.

•  Self-controlisariskfactorforbothmalesandfemales,parGcularlysointhosewhoareengagedintrajectoriesdepicGngmorefrequentandsevereanGsocialbehaviors.

1University of Montreal 2 Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment 3International Center for Comparative Criminology

SCwasonlyassociatedwiththefrequencyand/ordiversityofanGsocialbehavior,butnotwiththeirsimpleoccurrence(presence/absence).

Males and Females do not differ regarding their associations

between SC and AB

Self-Control is associated with all Antisocial Behaviors

(rs = .05 to .21, ps < 0.05)

InAGeneralTheoryofCrime,GonredsonandHirschi(1990)proposedthatself-control(SC)isthemainriskfactorpredicGngindividualdifferencesincriminalbehavior,andbetweenmalesandfemales.Todate:•  Itismainlyacceptedthatwomencommitfewercrimesthanmen;•  ThereisstrongempiricalsupportfortheassociaGonlinkingSCandanGsocialbehaviors(AB)overGmeandonavarietyofoutcomes.

However:•  FewstudieshavetestedwhetherthisassociaGonissexuallydimorphic,mostshowingthatSCexertsasimilarinfluenceonmales’andfemales’AB;

•  ThesexgapinABpersistsauercontrollingforSC,andvaryaccordingtodevelopmentalperiods,natureofthebehaviorsandtypeofmeasures.