Exam 9: Developmental Theories: Life Course, Latent Trait, and Trajectory

Problem behavior syndrome portrays crime as a type of social problem rather than the product of other social problems.

Most offenders' antisocial behavior peaks during adolescence and then diminishes as they mature until around the age of 18. These offenders are known as:

Gottfredson and Hirschi trace the root cause of poor self-control to inadequate _________.

Wolfgang found that while many offenders commit a single criminal act and thereafter desist from crime, a small group of ___________________engage in frequent and repeated criminal activity and continue to do so across their life span.

The General theory of crime attributes the tendency to commit crimes to social learning.

The concept of overt stability suggests that people change and develop as they mature; life events have a significant influence on future behavior.

Gottfredson and Hirschi suggest that low self-control is a function of the environment.

Using Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime, explain how impulsivity, poor self-control, and crime are associated.

The pathway of crime that begins with bullying and annoying others, then escalates to physical fighting and violence, is known as the ______ pathway.

Which is not more typical of early-onset girls compared to early-onset boys?

Aging out is explained by latent trait theory in that one's propensity to commit crime remains steady over the life course. Only the opportunity to commit crime fluctuates over time.

Some offenders are specialists, whereas others are __________.

Gottfredson and Hirschi identify people with limited self-control as tending to be:

Latent trait theories hold that some underlying condition, present at birth or soon after, controls behavior.

When Elaine Eggleston Doherty and Margaret Ensminger analyzed the relationship between marriage and official arrest, they found strong evidence of a ________________________.

_________ are cognitive frameworks that help people quickly process and sort through information.

The Gluecks' research was highly praised for nearly 30 years as the study of crime and delinquency shifted almost exclusively to social factors.

Most theories focus on why people get involved in crime. In an important 1993 work, Crime in the Making , Robert Sampson and John Laub instead focused on whether there are trails back to _______.

Over time, aggressive and disruptive children are rejected by families and peers and tend to receive less support from teachers.

__________________, in his Philadelphia cohort research, identified a small group of chronic offenders who engaged in frequent and repeated criminal activity across their life spans.