Longitudinal Research in the Social and Behavioral Sciences: An Interdisciplinary Series – serie

This volume brings together a sample of the best of the studies that illustrate two recent trends in research on deviant behavior. The first of these trends is the investigation of deviant behavior in longitudinal perspective. Panels of subjects are followed over long periods of time to establish temporal relationships be­ tween deviant behavior and the antecedents and consequences of deviant behav­ ior. The second trend in contemporary research on deviance is the recognition of the association among forms of deviant behavior such as violence, drug abuse, and theft. The recognition of the covariation among forms of deviance stimulated questions regarding the nature of the relationships among multiple forms of de­ viance. Is one form of deviant behavior a cause or a consequence of other forms of deviant behavior? What variables mediate and moderate such causal relation­ ships? Do different forms of deviant behavior have common antecedents and consequences? Independent of the foregoing relationships, do particular forms of deviant behavior have unique antecedents and consequences? The eight original research studies that, along with the introduction and overview, constitute this volume are based on data drawn from among the most influential longitudinal studies in the general area of deviant behavior. These studies variously consider common and pattern-specific antecedents and conse­ quences, reciprocal influences, and intervening and moderating variables in causal relationships among drug use, crime, and other forms of deviance.

This book presents new and important information about adolescent drug use. The book is intended for human service professionals, teachers, researchers, and students interested in the issue of early adolescent drug use and its causes and pervasiveness in a multiethnic population. Today, the field of adolescent drug use research relies on integrative models that permit competing explanations of drug use. This approach promotes flexibility in testing hypotheses pertinent to adol- cents of very different social and cultural backgrounds or personal characteristics. Longitudinal studies, including the one presented in these pages, have identified many risk and protective factors or processes that are linked to adolescent drug use. We review these throughout this book and present new information from our own research. Our point of departure is to extend and elaborate descriptive research and models of adolescent drug research to cover the unique and diverse experiences of adolescents who are Hispanic, African American, and White non-Hispanic.

Leading experts review the research on resilience and represent the diverse perspectives and opinions found among both scientists and practitioners in the field. Although the chapters are written to the standards expected by researchers, they are equally useful for program developers and others in applied fields seeking science-based information on the topic. This book is a unique resource in keeping with the growing interest in resilience both in research and interventions.

The production of this book represents a culmination for me of some 25 years of interest in the field of personality and substance use and abuse. In choosing the field of substanceuse and abuse for the focus of our research, all of the investi- tors collaborating in this research have been sustained by the awareness that the work we are doing has an important purpose. Substance abuse continues to have enormous impacts on individuals and families,and prevention and treatment - proaches developed to date have not always been as successful as we would hope to see. New advances in our fundamental understanding of the causal mec- nisms involved in the development ofaddiction may be necessary to advance our success in developing new forms of prevention and treatment for alcohol and drug abuse. The work in this book builds on the work of numerous previous investi- tors who have been drawn to investigate this topic. As you will notice in the extensive reference list, there have been hundreds of articles published on this topic. Although each of these references has added a small piece to our und- standing of the relationship between personality and alcohol abuse, the majority of these studies have been done on clinical samples and often involved no control groups or poorly matched control groups. Several important previous longitu- nal investigations have been conducted,but these investigations have usually not included general population samples or comprehensivepersonality test batteries.

This text represents a serious attempt to carry out a large-scale longitudinal study of pre-marital factors that predict breakup and marital quality. The author develops a theoretical rationale for predicted paths and tests those paths with the best statistical tools. Practitioners should find the results useful in their attempts to help individuals and couples make decisions about marriage, marital stability and childrearing.

A comprehensive synthesis of the empirical findings of seven important ongoing longitudinal studies of delinquency. The seven projects included in this volume represent much of the diversity found in individual-based panel studies of antisocial behaviour. Individually and collectively, the results of these investigations have been published in a wide range of disciplinary outlets, thus making it difficult to identify common themes and general principles. This volume intends to provide a comprehensive and unified picture of empirical results, both within these studies and across them. One of the fundamental purposes of the text is to examine the extent to which these studies answer the basic question of the origins of delinquent and criminal careers despite their varying guiding theories, methods and settings. "Taking Stock in Delinquency" is a resource for criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, and upper-level students on juvenile delinquency, criminology, developmental psychology, and deviant behaviour.

"Your good nature will bring you much happiness." -Peking Noodle Co. We began this book with the belief that there are individual differences in tempera­ ment that impact the trajectory of the course of development. At a particular point in time, the impact may be small, but over time the effect of these small tweaks may come to be associated with significant and meaningful differences in our indi­ vidual destinations. In this book, we examined the relations between temperament and various domains of development as well as the home and family environ­ ment to document the short- and long-term sequelae of various temperamental characteristics to test this belief. It takes a certain temperamental profile to complete a collaborative longitu­ dinal research project spanning two decades. Especially during the project's early years, when we were directly assessing the development of over 100 children twice yearly and visiting their homes, high activity level was required. Our biological rhythms were constantly disrupted as we worked to complete data coding (we used punch cards then!) and checking before the next wave of assessments began. We learned to approach new problems and tasks with intensity, to be adaptable when appointments had to be rescheduled, to be sensitive to changes in our study families' situations, and that a positive mood is essential. We were not easily distracted from our goal of following the study participants through high school completion, and our persistence has made all the difference.

At the start of every school day, it’s not an unfamiliar sight to see younger children bounding toward school, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to seize the day. In contrast, adolescents sometimes seem to sleepwalk toward their middle and high schools, often bleary-eyed, cantankerous, and less than enthusiastic to get down to work. Why the difference?Recent developmental research has demonstrated a relationship between sleep/wake patterns and different kinds of problem behaviors, including social adjustment problems, family coercion, and disaffection from school. Adolescents who prefer staying up later in the evening and arising late in the morning (i.e., eveningness) have often been considered at greater risk of suffering from such problem behaviors as delinquency and negative relationships with parents and teachers. Those who tend to go to bed and arise earlier (i.e., morningness) have long been associated with more positive outcomes. In the majority of previous research, however, these concepts have never been adequately tested.In Sync with Adolescence: The Role of Morningness-Eveningness in Development examines the possible effects of adolescent preferences on problem behavior in different contexts. This volume presents a new way of looking at morningness-eveningness in relation to adolescent development in general and on problem behavior in particular. The study has produced results, the implications of which necessitate a reinterpretation of the current thinking about morningness-eveningness and adolescent adjustment.This volume should be of particular interest to developmental psychologists and researchers who are interested in examining the role of biological factors in psychological processes as well as to sleep researchers who are interested in both the clinical and behavioral aspects. In addition, it is a valuable resource for clinical child and school psychologists, medical staff,teachers, and anyone who works with adolescents.

Children born during the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity entered history at a time dominated by I-Like-Ike politics and domestic security. As they approached adolescence, however, their world was shaken by major cultural, economic, social, and political upheaval. And although it was time of great innovation and progress, a sense of chaos and bitterness began to envelop the country. It was the ‘60s. For many Americans, a mere mention of this decade evokes an extraordinary time and place in the country’s - and their own - history.Adolescents who had been enjoying the technological and medical advances of the era - television, drive-in movies, rock-and-roll, vaccinations that prevented once-incurable diseases - now were also experiencing the fallout from the Civil Rights Movement, domestic terrorism, stagflation, and (perhaps most significant) the Vietnam War.From Adolescence to Adulthood in the Vietnam Era provides a unique, detailed, long-term study of the psychological and social worlds of male adolescents who were on the cusp of adulthood as the 1960s were ending. This longitudinal analysis follows adolescent boys who graduated with the class of 1969 and transitioned into adulthood either through military service, full-time employment, or college life. The results examine the different pathways these boys chose and the affect these choices had on their transition from adolescents to young adult men.

This volume is about understanding the relationship between deviance and selected correlates of deviance in one generation and deviance and its selected correlates in the next generation. By examining the significance of these constructs in the parental generation as part of the explanation for the same constructs in the child’s generation, we contribute to an und- standing of the phenomena. This contribution, however, is quite limited in the sense that we are examining in essence bivariate relationships—the association between first-generation and second-generation phenomena— while ignoring all of the other influences on the second-generation p- nomena that do not stem from or account for the intergenerational relationship. Nevertheless, the study of intergenerational parallelism of deviance and its correlates justifiably has excited attention and resulted in a vo- minous literature greater than might have been expected for any parti- lar bivariate relationships because of the mystique surrounding ideas—cycle of violence, reproduction of culture, to name but a few—that are evoked by consideration of the association between such phenomena in one generation and the same phenomena in a successive generation.

Children born during the post-WWII era of peace and prosperity entered history at a time dominated by I-Like-Ike politics and domestic security. As they approached adolescence, however, their world was shaken by major cultural, economic, social, and political upheaval. And although it was time of great innovation and progress, a sense of chaos and bitterness began to envelop the country. It was the ‘60s. For many Americans, a mere mention of this decade evokes an extraordinary time and place in the country’s - and their own - history.Adolescents who had been enjoying the technological and medical advances of the era - television, drive-in movies, rock-and-roll, vaccinations that prevented once-incurable diseases - now were also experiencing the fallout from the Civil Rights Movement, domestic terrorism, stagflation, and (perhaps most significant) the Vietnam War.From Adolescence to Adulthood in the Vietnam Era provides a unique, detailed, long-term study of the psychological and social worlds of male adolescents who were on the cusp of adulthood as the 1960s were ending. This longitudinal analysis follows adolescent boys who graduated with the class of 1969 and transitioned into adulthood either through military service, full-time employment, or college life. The results examine the different pathways these boys chose and the affect these choices had on their transition from adolescents to young adult men.

The first decade of the new century proved to be a deadly one for many children and young people in the United States. Despite increased policing on the streets, higher rates of incarceration, harsher sentencing, stricter control of illegal drugs, and attempts to reduce access to firearms, FBI reports show that more than 7,300 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were murdered in 2008 alone. It’s clear that traditional crime reduction strategies have not stemmed the rising tide of homicides perpetrated by and upon one of society’s most vulnerable populations. Innovative, practicable  solutions are needed to staunch this lethal trend.Based on the findings of a unique longitudinal study, Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood now provides experts with unprecedented analysis of prospectively collected data on 1,517 boys and young men who grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following these males from childhood into early adulthood, examining their lives and the conditions under which they grew up in a representative mid-sized American city, the study forms the basis of this unique volume designed to stimulate debate on key questions of prevention and intervention as well as dispel popular myths about the childhood and adolescent features of homicide offenders and homicide victims. Key areas of coverage include:Early childhood risk factors of young homicide offenders and victims. Insights into homicide offenders’ lives as told in their own words.The effectiveness of screening for at-risk youth. Risk factor–based prevention and intervention strategies.The impact of interventions on homicide rates.Policy implications at the local, state, and national levels.Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood is essential reading for researchers,practitioners, and policy makers across the fields of juvenile justice and criminology, developmental psychology, sociology, psychiatry, public health, and policy making.-------“This book changes the game in violence research … The analysis is masterful, the prose is readable, and the achievement is nothing short of stunning.”Richard Rosenfeld, Ph.D. / Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis“This book will stand the test of time as a landmark homicide study.”James C. Howell, Ph.D. / Senior Research Associate, National Gang Center“This is a fascinating, pioneering book … The authors’ sophisticated analyses demonstrate convincingly the considerable value of prospective longitudinal data for enhancing our understanding of the etiology and control of lethal violence.”Steven F. Messner, Ph.D. / Distinguished Teacher Professor, Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY / President, American Society of Criminology

"Your good nature will bring you much happiness." -Peking Noodle Co. We began this book with the belief that there are individual differences in tempera­ ment that impact the trajectory of the course of development. At a particular point in time, the impact may be small, but over time the effect of these small tweaks may come to be associated with significant and meaningful differences in our indi­ vidual destinations. In this book, we examined the relations between temperament and various domains of development as well as the home and family environ­ ment to document the short- and long-term sequelae of various temperamental characteristics to test this belief. It takes a certain temperamental profile to complete a collaborative longitu­ dinal research project spanning two decades. Especially during the project's early years, when we were directly assessing the development of over 100 children twice yearly and visiting their homes, high activity level was required. Our biological rhythms were constantly disrupted as we worked to complete data coding (we used punch cards then!) and checking before the next wave of assessments began. We learned to approach new problems and tasks with intensity, to be adaptable when appointments had to be rescheduled, to be sensitive to changes in our study families' situations, and that a positive mood is essential. We were not easily distracted from our goal of following the study participants through high school completion, and our persistence has made all the difference.

The first decade of the new century proved to be a deadly one for many children and young people in the United States. Despite increased policing on the streets, higher rates of incarceration, harsher sentencing, stricter control of illegal drugs, and attempts to reduce access to firearms, FBI reports show that more than 7,300 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 were murdered in 2008 alone. It’s clear that traditional crime reduction strategies have not stemmed the rising tide of homicides perpetrated by and upon one of society’s most vulnerable populations. Innovative, practicable  solutions are needed to staunch this lethal trend.Based on the findings of a unique longitudinal study, Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood now provides experts with unprecedented analysis of prospectively collected data on 1,517 boys and young men who grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Following these males from childhood into early adulthood, examining their lives and the conditions under which they grew up in a representative mid-sized American city, the study forms the basis of this unique volume designed to stimulate debate on key questions of prevention and intervention as well as dispel popular myths about the childhood and adolescent features of homicide offenders and homicide victims. Key areas of coverage include:Early childhood risk factors of young homicide offenders and victims. Insights into homicide offenders’ lives as told in their own words.The effectiveness of screening for at-risk youth. Risk factor–based prevention and intervention strategies.The impact of interventions on homicide rates.Policy implications at the local, state, and national levels.Young Homicide Offenders and Victims: Risk Factors, Prediction, and Prevention from Childhood is essential reading for researchers,practitioners, and policy makers across the fields of juvenile justice and criminology, developmental psychology, sociology, psychiatry, public health, and policy making.-------“This book changes the game in violence research … The analysis is masterful, the prose is readable, and the achievement is nothing short of stunning.”Richard Rosenfeld, Ph.D. / Curators Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice, University of Missouri-St. Louis“This book will stand the test of time as a landmark homicide study.”James C. Howell, Ph.D. / Senior Research Associate, National Gang Center“This is a fascinating, pioneering book … The authors’ sophisticated analyses demonstrate convincingly the considerable value of prospective longitudinal data for enhancing our understanding of the etiology and control of lethal violence.”Steven F. Messner, Ph.D. / Distinguished Teacher Professor, Department of Sociology, University at Albany, SUNY / President, American Society of Criminology

Leading experts review the research on resilience and represent the diverse perspectives and opinions found among both scientists and practitioners in the field. Although the chapters are written to the standards expected by researchers, they are equally useful for program developers and others in applied fields seeking science-based information on the topic. This book is a unique resource in keeping with the growing interest in resilience both in research and interventions.

This book should be of interest to scholars, researchers, students, and practitioners alike. Scholars, researchers, and students of personal relationship development will recognize in this book the first serious attempt in over 40 years to do a large-scale, longitudinal study of premarital factors that predict premarital breakup and marital quality; they should also appreciate our attempt to develop a theoretical rationale for predicted paths and to test those paths with the best available statistical tools. Practitioners-while generally not as interested in the intricacies of the statistical results-will find much that is useful to them as they help individuals and couples make decisions about their intimate relationships, their readiness for marriage, and how to increase the probability for marital success. Teachers, family life educators, premarital counselors, and clergy will find helpful our “principles for practice,” particularly as described in Chapter 9, as they teach and counsel couples in any premarital situation. My interest in the development of relationships from premarital to marital probably began when I got married in 1972 and started to notice all of the characteristics my wife and I brought from our respective families and how our “new beginning” as a married couple was in many ways the continuation of our premarital relationship, only more refined and more intense. My professional interest began when I did my doctoral dissertation in 198 1 on premarital predictors of early marital satisfaction (the results of that study are reported in Chapter 8).

Taking Stock in Delinquency is the comprehensive synthesis of the empirical findings of seven important ongoing longitudinal studies of delinquency. The seven projects included in this volume represent much of the diversity found in individual-based panel studies of antisocial behavior. Individually and collectively, the results of these investigations have been published in a wide range of disciplinary outlets, thus making it difficult to identify common themes and general principles. This volume intends to provide a comprehensive and unified picture of empirical results, both within these studies and across them. One of the fundamental purposes of Taking Stock in Delinquency is to examine the extent to which these studies answer the basic question of the origins of delinquent and criminal careers despite their varying guiding theories, methods, and settings.Taking Stock in Delinquency is an important resource for criminologists, psychologists, sociologists, and upper-level students on juvenile delinquency, criminology, developmental psychology, and deviant behavior.

This book presents new and important information about adolescent drug use. The book is intended for human service professionals, teachers, researchers, and students interested in the issue of early adolescent drug use and its causes and pervasiveness in a multiethnic population. Today, the field of adolescent drug use research relies on integrative models that permit competing explanations of drug use. This approach promotes flexibility in testing hypotheses pertinent to adol- cents of very different social and cultural backgrounds or personal characteristics. Longitudinal studies, including the one presented in these pages, have identified many risk and protective factors or processes that are linked to adolescent drug use. We review these throughout this book and present new information from our own research. Our point of departure is to extend and elaborate descriptive research and models of adolescent drug research to cover the unique and diverse experiences of adolescents who are Hispanic, African American, and White non-Hispanic.

The production of this book represents a culmination for me of some 25 years of interest in the field of personality and substance use and abuse.

This volume brings together a sample of the best of the studies that illustrate two recent trends in research on deviant behavior. Is one form of deviant behavior a cause or a consequence of other forms of deviant behavior?

This volume is about understanding the relationship between deviance and selected correlates of deviance in one generation and deviance and its selected correlates in the next generation. By examining the significance of these constructs in the parental generation as part of the explanation for the same constructs in the child’s generation, we contribute to an und- standing of the phenomena. This contribution, however, is quite limited in the sense that we are examining in essence bivariate relationships—the association between first-generation and second-generation phenomena— while ignoring all of the other influences on the second-generation p- nomena that do not stem from or account for the intergenerational relationship. Nevertheless, the study of intergenerational parallelism of deviance and its correlates justifiably has excited attention and resulted in a vo- minous literature greater than might have been expected for any parti- lar bivariate relationships because of the mystique surrounding ideas—cycle of violence, reproduction of culture, to name but a few—that are evoked by consideration of the association between such phenomena in one generation and the same phenomena in a successive generation.