Hostname: page-component-77f85d65b8-45ctf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-03-27T11:10:18.876Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The effects of violence exposure on the development of impulse control and future orientation across adolescence and early adulthood: Time-specific and generalized effects in a sample of juvenile offenders

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 January 2015

Kathryn C. Monahan ,
Kevin M. King ,
Elizabeth P. Shulman ,
Elizabeth Cauffman  and
Laurie Chassin
Kathryn C. Monahan*
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Kevin M. King
Affiliation:
University of Washington
Elizabeth P. Shulman
Affiliation:
Brock University
Elizabeth Cauffman
Affiliation:
University of California, Irvine
Laurie Chassin
Affiliation:
University of Arizona
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Kathryn C. Monahan, Department of Psychology, Sennott Square, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15260; E-mail: monahan@pitt.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Impulse control and future orientation increase across adolescence, but little is known about how contextual factors shape the development of these capacities. The present study investigates how stress exposure, operationalized as exposure to violence, alters the developmental pattern of impulse control and future orientation across adolescence and early adulthood. In a sample of 1,354 serious juvenile offenders, higher exposure to violence was associated with lower levels of future orientation at age 15 and suppressed development of future orientation from ages 15 to 25. Increases in witnessing violence or victimization were linked to declines in impulse control 1 year later, but only during adolescence. Thus, beyond previous experiences of exposure to violence, witnessing violence and victimization during adolescence conveys unique risk for suppressed development of self-regulation.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 27 , Issue 4pt1 , November 2015 , pp. 1267 - 1283
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Agnew, R., Scheuerman, H., Grosholz, J., Isom, D., Watson, L., & Thaxton, S. (2011). Does victimization reduce self-control? A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Criminal Justice, 39, 169–174.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Albert, D., & Steinberg, L. (2011). Age differences in strategic planning as indexed by the Tower of London. Child Development, 82, 1501–1517.Google Scholar
Barbas, H., & Zikopoulos, B. (2007). The prefrontal cortex and flexible behavior. Neuroscientist, 13, 532–545.Google Scholar
Baumeister, R. F., Vohs, K. D., & Tice, D. M. (2007). The strength model of self-control. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 16, 351–355. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8721.2007.00534.x Google Scholar
Bechtold, J., Cavanagh, C., Shulman, E. P., & Cauffman, E. (in press). Does mother know best? Adolescent and mother reports of impulsivity and subsequent delinquency. Journal of Youth and Adolescence.Google Scholar
Berenson, A. B., Wiemann, C. M., & McCombs, S. (2001). Exposure to violence and associated health-risk behaviors among adolescent girls. Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, 155, 1238.Google Scholar
Blair, C. (2010). Stress and the development of self-regulation in context. Child Development Perspectives, 4, 181–188.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bollen, K. A., & Curran, P. J. (2004). Autoregressive latent trajectory (ATL) models a synthesis of two traditions. Sociological Methods Research, 32, 336–383. doi:10.1177/0049124103260222 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brumbach, B. H., Figueredo, A. J., & Ellis, B. J. (2009). Effects of harsh and unpredictable environments in adolescence on development of life history strategies. Human Nature, 20, 25–51.Google Scholar
Casey, B. J., Getz, S., & Galvan, A. (2008). The adolescent brain and risky decisions. Developmental Reviews, 28, 62–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casey, B. J., Jones, R. M., Levita, L., Libby, V., Pattwell, S. S., Ruberry, E. J., et al. (2010). The storm and stress of adolescence: Insights from human imaging and mouse genetics. Developmental Psychobiology, 52, 225–235.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cauffman, E., & Steinberg, L. (2000). (Im)maturity of judgment in adolescence: Why adolescents may be less culpable than adults. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 18, 741–760.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cauffman, E., & Woolard, J. (1999). The Future Outlook Inventory. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Chung, H. L., & Steinberg, L. (2008). Relations between neighborhood factors, parenting behaviors, peer deviance, and delinquency among serious juvenile offenders. Developmental Psychology, 42, 319–331.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cisler, J. M., Begle, A. M., Amstadter, A. B., Resnick, H. S., Danielson, C. K., Saunders, B. E., et al. (2012). Exposure to interpersonal violence and risk for PTSD, depression, delinquency, and binge drinking among adolescents: Data from the NSA-R. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 25, 33–40.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cohen, S., Janicki-Deverts, D., & Miller, G. (2007). Psychological stress and disease. Journal of the American Medical Association, 298, 1685–1688.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curran, P. J., & Willoughby, M. T. (2003). Implications of latent trajectory models for the study of developmental psychopathology. Development and Psychopathology, 15, 581–612. doi:10.1017.S0954579403000300 Google Scholar
Graber, J. A., Brooks-Gunn, J., & Warren, M. P. (2006). Pubertal effects on adjustment in girls: Moving from demonstrating effects to identifying pathways Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 35, 413–423. doi:10.1007/s10964- 006-9049-2 Google Scholar
Gunnar, M. R., Wewerka, S., Frenn, K., Long, J. D., & Griggs, C. (2009). Developmental changes in hypothalamus–pituitary–adrenal activity over transition to adolescence: Normative changes and associations with puberty. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 69–85. doi:10.1017/S0954579409000054 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hanson, J. L., Chung, M. K., Avants, B. B., Rudolph, K. D., Shirtcliff, E. A., Gee, J. C., et al. (2012). Structural variations in prefrontal cortex mediate the relationship between early childhood stress and spatial working memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 32, 7917–7925.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Harden, P. K., & Tucker-Drob, E. M. (2011). Individual differences in the development of sensation seeking and impulsivity during adolescence: Further evidence for a dual systems model. Developmental Psychology, 47, 739–746. doi:10.1037/a0023279 Google Scholar
Holmes, A., & Wellman, C. L. (2009). Stress-induced prefrontal reorganization and executive dysfunction in rodents. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 33, 773–783.Google Scholar
Huizinga, D., Esbensen, F. A., & Weiher, A. W. (1991). Are there multiple paths to delinquency? Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, 82, 83–118.Google Scholar
Inzlicht, M., & Schmeichel, B. J. (2012). What is ego depletion? Toward a mechanistic revision of the resource model of self-control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 7, 450–463. doi:10.1177/1745691612454134 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
King, K. M., Lengua, L. J., & Monahan, K. C. (2013). Individual differences in the development of self-regulation during pre-adolescence: Connections to context and adjustment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology. Advance online publication.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kinnunen, A. K., Keonig, J. I., & Bilbe, G. (2003). Repeated-variable prenatal stress alters pre- and postsynaptic gene expression in the rat frontal pole. Journal of Neurochemistry, 86, 736–748.Google Scholar
Krueger, R. F., Hicks, B. M., Patrick, C. J., Carlson, S. R., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2002). Etiologic connections among substance dependence, antisocial behavior and personality: Modeling the externalizing spectrum. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 111, 411–424.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liston, C., Watts, R., Tottenham, N., Davidson, M. C., Niogi, S., Ulug, A. M., et al. (2006). Frontostriatal microstructure modulates efficient recruitment of cognitive control. Cerebral Cortex, 16, 553–560.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Liu, D., Diorio, J., Day, J. C., Francis, D. D., & Meaney, M. J. (2000). Maternal care, hippocampal neurogenesis, and cognitive development in rats. Nature Neuroscience, 3, 799–806.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, B. C., Benson, B., & Galbraith, K. A. (2001). Family relationships and adolescent pregnancy risk: A research synthesis. Developmental Review, 21, 1–38.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Monahan, K. C., Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., & Mulvey, E. P. (2009). Trajectories of antisocial behavior and psychosocial maturity from adolescence to young adulthood. Developmental Psychology, 45, 1654–1668.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Monahan, K. C., Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., & Mulvey, E. (2013). Psychosocial (im)maturity from adolescence to early adulthood: Distinguishing between adolescence-limited and persisting antisocial behavior. Development and Psychopathology, 25, 1093–1105.Google Scholar
Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., Fagan, J., Cauffman, E., Piquero, A. R., Chassin, G. P., et al. (2004). Theory and research on desistance from antisocial activity among serious adolescent offenders. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 213–236. doi:10.1177/1541204004265864 Google Scholar
Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., Piquero, A. R., Besana, M., Fagan, J., Schubert, C., et al. (2010). Trajectories of desistance and continuity in antisocial behavior following court adjudication among serious adolescent offenders. Development and Psychopathology, 22, 453–475.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muraven, M., & Baumeister, R. F. (2000). Self-regulation and depletion of limited resources: Does self-control resemble a muscle? Psychological Bulletin, 126, 247–259. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.126.2.247 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2008). Mplus user's guide: The comprehensive modeling program for applied researchers. Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Pechtel, P., & Pizzagalli, D. A. (2010). Effects of early life stress on cognitive and affective function: An integrated review of human literature. Pschopharmacology, 214, 55–70. doi:10.1007/s00213-010-2009-2 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quevedo, K. M., Benning, S. D., Gunnar, M. R., & Dahl, R. E. (2009). The onset of puberty: Effects on the psychophysiology of defensive and appetitive motivation. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 27–45. doi:10.1017/S0954579409000030 Google Scholar
Romeo, R. D. (2005). Neuroendocrine and behavioral development during puberty: A tale of two axes. Vitamins and Hormones, 71, 1–25.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romeo, R. D. (2010). Adolescence: A central event in shaping stress reactivity. Developmental Psychobiology, 52, 244–253.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Romeo, R. D., & McEwen, B. S. (2006). Stress and the adolescent brain. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1094, 202–214. doi:10.1196/annals.1376.022 Google Scholar
Scheier, M. F., & Carver, C. S. (1985). Optimism, coping, and health: Assessment and implications of generalized outcome expectancies. Health Psychology, 4, 219–247. doi:10.1037/0278-6133.4.3.219 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Schubert, C. A., Mulvey, E. P., Steinberg, L., Cauffman, E., Losoya, S. H., Hecker, T., et al. (2004). Operational lessons from the pathways to desistance project. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, 2, 237–255. doi:10.1177/1541204004265875 Google Scholar
Selner-Ohagan, M., Kindlon, D., Buka, S., Raudenbush, S., & Earls, F. (1998). Assessing exposure to violence in urban youth. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry and Allied Disciplines, 39, 215–224.Google Scholar
Somerville, L. H., & Casey, B. J. (2010). Developmental neurobiology of cognitive control and motivational systems. Current Opinion in Neurobiology, 20, 236–241. doi:10.1016/j.conb.2010.01.006 Google Scholar
Steinberg, L. (2008). A social neuroscience perspective on adolescent risk-taking. Developmental Review, 28, 78–106. doi:10.1016/j.dr.2007.08.002 Google Scholar
Steinberg, L., Albert, D., Cauffman, E., Banich, M., Graham, S., & Woolard, J. (2008). Age differences in sensation seeking and impulsivity as indexed by behavior and self-report: Evidence for a dual systems model. Developmental Psychology, 44, 1764–1778. doi:10.1037/a0012955 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Steinberg, L., Graham, S., O'Brien, L., Woolard, J., Cauffman, E., & Banich, M. (2009). Age differences in future orientation and delay discounting. Child Development, 80, 28–44. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8624.2008.01244.x Google Scholar
Strathman, A., Gleicher, F., Boninger, D. S., & Edwards, S. C. (1994). The consideration of future consequences: Weighing immediate and distant outcomes of behavior. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66, 742–752. doi:10.1037/0022-3514.66.4.742 Google Scholar
Sullivan, T. N., Farrell, A. D., Kliewer, W., Vulin-Reynolds, M., & Valois, R. F. (2007). Exposure to violence in early adolescence: The impact of self-restraint, witnessing violence, and victimization on aggression and drug use. Journal of Early Adolescence, 27, 296–323. doi:10.1177/0272431607302008 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tolan, P. H., Gorman-Smith, D., & Henry, D. (2003). The developmental ecology of urban males' youth violence. Developmental Psychology, 39, 274–291.Google Scholar
Tourangeau, R., & Yan, T. (2007). Sensitive questions in surveys. Psychological Bulletin, 133, 859–883.Google Scholar
Veenema, A. H. (2009). Early life stress, the development of aggression and neuroendocrine and neurobiological correlates: What can we learn from animal models? Frontiers in Neuroendocrinology, 30, 497–518.Google Scholar
Weinberger, D. A., & Schwartz, G. E. (1990). Distress and restraint as superordinate dimensions of self-reported adjustment: A typological perspective. Journal of Personality, 58, 381–417.Google Scholar
White, H. R., Marmorstein, N. R., Crews, F. T., Bates, M. E., Mun, E. Y., & Loeber, R. (2011). Associations between heavy drinking and changes in impulsive behavior among adolescent boys. Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, 35, 295–303.Google Scholar
Wright, E. M., Fagan, A. A., & Pinchevsky, G. M. (2013). The effects of exposure to violence and victimization across life domains on adolescent substance use. Child Abuse and Neglect. Advance online publication.Google Scholar
Zimbardo, P. G. (1990). The Stanford Time Perspective Inventory. Stanford, CA: Stanford University.Google Scholar
Zona, K., & Milan, S. (2011). Gender differences in the longitudinal impact of exposure to violence on mental health in urban youth. Journal of Youth and Adolescence, 40, 1674–1690.Google Scholar