On the development of self-control and deviance from preschool to middle adolescence. (May 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Vazsonyi, Alexander T.; Ksinan Jiskrova, Gabriela
• Is Part Of: Journal of criminal justice. Number 56(2018)
• Page Start: 60
• Page End: 69
• Publication Date: 2018-05
• Subjects: General theory of crime -- Developmental trajectory -- Latent growth modeling -- Latent cross-lagged modeling -- Delinquency -- Self-regulation; Criminal justice, Administration of -- Periodicals; Justice pénale -- Administration -- Périodiques; 364.05
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jcrimjus.2017.08.005
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0047-2352

Abstract

Abstract: Purpose: The study tested whether developmental changes in self-control stabilize by late childhood (age 10) or continue into early and middle adolescence. Second, it tested the bidirectional, longitudinal relationship between self-control and deviance over an 11-year period. Methods: Children ( N = 1159) from the longitudinal NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (SECCYD) were assessed six times, ages 4.5 to 15 years. Latent growth models tested self-control and deviance trajectories, using competing growth functions to capture change over time. The longitudinal, bidirectional self-control-deviance links were examined in a cross-lagged latent model. Results: Findings showed that children's self-control significantly increased during childhood, but stabilized sometime between 8.5 and 10.5 years. Deviance also changed in parallel, but in the opposite direction; some evidence was found of continued change in deviance during early adolescence. Finally, self-control and deviance were bidirectionally and longitudinally linked across all assessments through childhood only. Conclusions: Findings support theoretical predictions that self-control principally develops during childhood (by age 10) and subsequently remains stable. They also support longitudinal, bidirectional self-control-deviance links, largely identical in size prior to the age of 10; study findings are contextualized vis-à-vis self-control theory as well as recent behavior genetic evidence. Highlights: Developmental trajectories tested over an 11-year period, ages 4.5 to 15 Self-control improved during childhood, stabilized by age 10. Reciprocal longitudinal effects between self-control and deviance were found. Self-control principally developed during the first decade of life, as theorized.