A Longitudinal Assessment of the Development of Antisocial Behavior in Boys: Rationale,Methodology,and First-Year Results

Abstract

The long-term consequences of antisocial behavior in children are well documented. Yet little is known about the pattern of development and sequence of antisocial behaviors in home and school settings. This article describes the rationale, methodology, and measures of a 5-year longitudinal research study of the development of antisocial behaviors in a high-risk population of boys in school settings. Subjects for this longitudinal study are 80 fifth-grade boys divided into two separate cohorts. These subjects were a subset of a sample of 200 boys included in an extensive study of the role of family variables in the development of antisocial behavior. Results from the first year of the study regarding 35 boys of Cohort I are presented in this paper. Multiple assessment methods were used including direct observations of social interactions in free-play activities and academic engaged time in classroom activities, teacher ratings of social skills, and examination of student records. Results indicated that subjects in the group more at risk for engaging in antisocial behavior were significantly different from subjects in the control group in their amounts of academic engaged time, frequencies of negative interactions with peers in playground situations, frequency of discipline contacts, and in teacher ratings of their social skills. Implications for identifying patterns and sequences of antisocial behavior are discussed

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