A great deal has been learned about serious child and adolescent conduct problems, but their causes are still not well understood. This book brings together an international group of leading authorities to advance specific, testable hypotheses about the causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency.

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A great deal has been learned about serious child and adolescent conduct problems, but their causes are still not well understood. This book brings together an international group of leading authorities to advance specific, testable hypotheses about the causes of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency. Four general causal models are delineated: the social learning model, the developmental pathways model, an integrative antisocial propensity model, and an integrative ecological-developmental model. Also provided are models focusing on specific aspects of the origins of conduct problems, including contextual, psychological, and biological influences. The authors present significant, original theoretical work and map out the kinds of further studies needed to confirm or disconfirm their new or revised hypotheses.

"Lahey et al. have assembled a splendidly comprehensive assessment of causal theories of conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency. The thirteen chapters--each written by leading scholars in the area--are interdisciplinary in style and scope, ranging substantively from genetic to community models and developmentally from toddlerhood to the early adult years. The volume contains a wealth of information about what is currently known and clear blueprints for future efforts to test and refine the theories. This is a vital sourcebook for all serious students of conduct problems, from upper-division undergraduates to senior scholars."
-Terence P. Thornberry, PhD, School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany

"There is a vast amount of information about conduct disorder and juvenile delinquency, but unfortunately, much of the literature is taxonomically confused, emptily empirical, and confounding across variables or risk factors. In contrast, the editors have set the parameters of this volume to be both evidence-driven and focused on causality. To achieve their objective, they have engaged a group of the most distinguished scientists in the field as contributors. The result is a scholarly collation of research data, incisive reviews, and challenging hypotheses for research on causality. This book should be a standard reference for libraries, scholars, and thoughtful clinicians."
-John Scott Werry, MD, Emeritus Professor of Psychiatry, University of Auckland, New Zealand

"Two aspects of this book are notable. First, the array of leading-edge contributors is unusually impressive. The chapter authors are well-known in the field, both for their expertise in specific aspects of development and their ability to relate these interest areas to broader processes of developmental psychopathology. Second, the book contains unusually thoughtful efforts to detail hypotheses and research strategies that will empirically advance our understanding of causal processes in the development of antisocial behavior. Lahey et al. have produced a volume that will substantially boost knowledge in this scientifically and socially vital area."
-John E. Bates, PhD, Department of Psychology, Indiana University

"This book is a groundbreaking contribution to the literature, in several respects. It provides broad coverage of the range of causal theories current in the field, and the individual chapters are written by the key researchers in those areas. Most importantly, the authors have been charged with moving the field forward by providing testable hypotheses derived from each theory. The book will be a valuable resource for years to come, not only for its depth of coverage, but for its heuristic value as well. The editors and chapter authors are to be congratulated on a job well done."
-Robert J. McMahon, PhD, Department of Psychology, University of Washington

370 Pages

ISBN:

Foreword, Farrington and Loeber
I. Research and Theoretical Strategies
1. Crucial Paths from Risk Indicator to Causal Mechanism, Rutter
II. General and Integrative Causal Models
2. A Social Learning Model of Child and Adolescent Antisocial Behavior, Snyder, Reid, and Patterson
3. Life-Course-Persistent and Adolescence-Limited Antisocial Behavior: A Ten-Year Research Review and a Research Agenda, Moffitt
4. A Developmental Propensity Model of the Origins of Conduct Problems during Childhood and Adolescence, Lahey and Waldman
5. Social Mechanisms of Community Influences on Crime and Pathways in Criminality, Wikstr m and Sampson
III. Targeted Causal Models
Development of Conduct Problems during the Preschool Period
6. Starting at the Beginning: Exploring the Etiology of Antisocial Behavior in the First Years of Life, Keenan and Shaw
7. Why Socialization Fails: The Case of Chronic Physical Aggression, Tremblay
Cognitive Factors
8. An Early-Onset Model of the Role of Executive Functions and Intelligence in Conduct Disorder/Delinquency, Nigg and Huang-Pollock
9. Do Social Information-Processing Patterns Mediate Aggressive Behavior?, Dodge
Genetic, Environmental, and Biological Influences
10. Prefrontal Deficits and Antisocial Behavior: A Causal Model, Ishikawa and Raine
11. Testing Alternative Hypotheses Regarding the Role of Development on Genetic and Environmental Influences Underlying Antisocial Behavior, Rhee and Waldman
12. Prenatal and Perinatal Influences on Conduct Disorder and Serious Delinquency, Brennan, Grekin, and Mednick
Animal Models of the Causes of Aggression
13. Social and Biological Mechanisms Underlying Impulsive Aggression in Rhesus Monkeys, Suomi