Stability of and Change in Criminal Behavior: A Prospective Study of Young Male Lawbreakers and Controls

Abstract

With Moffitt's developmental typology of antisocial behavior as a starting point, the general aim of the study was to investigate the stability of and change in criminal behavior from early adolescence to early adult age. The purpose was also to explore the role of individual, family, peer and school related risk factors in the development of criminal behavior. The study was based on data from the prospective longitudinal research project ‘Young Lawbreakers as Adults’, in which a group of adolescent male lawbreakers and controls were followed from the 1960s into the 1990s. The results were in favor of a distinction between adolescencelimited and persistent criminality, and supported the suggestion of a common set of risk factors dimensionally related to offending, rather than trajectory-specific risk factors. The findings indicated that, in addition to these common risk factors, early attention deficits and manifestations of aggression might be of specific importance to persistent criminality.