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.
