Desistance versus persistence in antisocial behavior

描述（由申请人提供）：虽然已经确定了持续反社会行为的预测因素，但缺乏跟踪儿童到成年的纵向研究，限制了我们对与严重和持续犯罪相关的发展过程的理解。导致一些人在几年内表现出严重的反社会行为，但后来又不再这样做的因素就更少了。该领域有限的研究表明，对犯罪行为的抑制通常发生在青春期晚期和成年早期。本研究将在匹兹堡青年研究（PYS）的两个样本中研究与反社会行为的坚持和坚持相关的过程。最年轻和最年长的PYS样本从童年一直跟踪到青春期，几乎没有损耗（分别进行了18次和16次纵向评估）。通过跟踪25岁（最年轻的样本）和30岁（最年长的样本）的两个样本，我们将能够检查成年早期严重反社会行为的持续和坚持的性质，以及建立与这些结果相关的童年/青少年因素。此外，我们将探讨抵抗者是否能够像适应良好的成年人一样工作，没有重大的精神健康问题（例如，反社会人格障碍，药物滥用，抑郁症）。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): While predictors of persistent antisocial behavior have been identified, a dearth of longitudinal studies following children into adulthood has limited our understanding of the developmental processes associated with serious and persisting delinquency. Even less is known about the factors that lead some individuals who exhibit serious antisocial behavior over several years to later refrain from such behavior. The limited research in this area has suggested that desistance from delinquency generally takes place in late adolescence and early adulthood. The present proposal will examine processes associated with persistence and desistence from antisocial behavior in two samples of the Pittsburgh Youth Study (PYS). The youngest and oldest samples of the PYS have been followed from childhood through adolescence with little attrition (18 and 16 longitudinal assessments, respectively). By following up the two samples at ages 25 (youngest sample) and 30 (oldest sample), we will be able to examine the nature of persistence and desistence from serious antisocial behavior across early adulthood, as well as to establish childhood/adolescent factors related to these outcomes. In addition, we will explore whether resistors are able to function as well adjusted adults, free from significant mental health problems (e.g., antisocial personality disorder, substance abuse, depression).