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5 - Protective factors and resilience
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- By Friedrich Lösel, Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany, Doris Bender, Institute of Psychology, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Germany
- Edited by David P. Farrington, Institute of Criminology, Cambridge, Jeremy W. Coid, St Bartholomew's and Royal London School of Medicine
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- Book:
- Early Prevention of Adult Antisocial Behaviour
- Published online:
- 22 September 2009
- Print publication:
- 17 April 2003, pp 130-204
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- Chapter
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Summary
Introduction
The majority of studies on antisocial behaviour have focused on causes and risk factors. Thanks particularly to prospective longitudinal studies, we now have a pretty good understanding of the characteristics of youngsters who are at risk of becoming serious offenders (e.g., Loeber and Farrington, 1998). Developmental models such as Moffitt's (1993a) taxonomy of adolescence-limited and life course-persistent antisociality, the distinction between early and late starters (Patterson et al., 1991), or the three pathways model of overt, covert, and authority conflict from Loeber and Hay (1994) offer explanations for the onset, persistence, and aggravation of various forms of antisocial behaviour. Although researchers do not agree about the number and structure of different pathways to serious delinquency (Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber, 1998; Nagin and Tremblay, 1999), children who show both overt and covert antisocial behaviour and early official delinquency seem to be particularly at risk for chronic offending (Farrington and Loeber, 2001; Patterson et al., 1998).
However, most research on persistent antisociality focuses on risks, deficits, and negative behavioural trends. Much less attention is paid to processes of abstaining or desistance (Farrington, 1994; Loeber and Stouthamer-Loeber, 1998; Nagin and Tremblay, 1999). Such processes are no rarity: for example, in the Kauai Study (Werner and Smith, 1992; see below), one out of three high-risk children grew into a competent, confident, and caring young adult. Robins (1978) and Moffitt et al. (1996) have shown that about one half of children with conduct disorders or extreme antisociality did not go on to serious criminal outcomes.