Youth Violence, Deliquency, and Gang Involvement

Youth violence and delinquency is a national public safety concern. Despite their age, adolescents are responsible for a significant amount of all serious crimes committed, including those that are violent in nature. Initiatives aimed at reducing violent crimes could benefit from understanding how these behaviors are developed and sustained over time. In RAPBL, we take a systemic or ecological approach to studying developmental trajectories of aggression and deliquent behavior. We are interested in understanding the individual-in-context. We investigate the unique ways that communities, families, schools, and peer groups interact to influence the development of adolescent behavior. The goal of our work is to inform ecologically-based violence prevention programs. Current work involves the role of gang-affiliation on the development of antisocial behaviors, and the effects of exposure to community violence on youth weapon-carrying and aggressive behaviors. A unique feature of our work is the application of novel statistical techniques to answer complex developmental questions.

Relevant Forthcoming, Recent, and Representative Presentations and Publications:

  • Lamont, A. E., Malone, P. S., & Shapiro, C. J. (2010, July). Differential development of delinquent behavior between a matched sample of gang- and non-gang-affiliated youth. Paper presented at the meeting of the Psychometric Society, Athens, GA.
  • Lamont, A. E., Malone, P. S., Huang, L., & Lubansky, J. (2010, June). Predictors of weapon carrying behavior during adolescence. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Prevention Research, Denver, CO.
  • Lamont, A. E. (2010, April). Differences in the development of delinquent behavior between a matched sample of gang and nongang affiliated youth. Paper presented at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
  • Lubansky, J. B. (2010, April). A family-centered approach to predicting adolescent police involvement. Paper presented at the University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC.
  • Miller, S., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., & Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2010). Developmental trajectories of boys' and girls' delinquency: Sex differences and links to later adolescent outcomes. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 38, 1021-1032. Abstract
  • Pettit, G. S., Lansford, J. E., Malone, P. S., Dodge, K. A., & Bates, J. E. (2010). Domain specificity in relationship history, social-information processing, and violent behavior in early adulthood. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 98, 190-200. Abstract
  • Shapiro, C. J., Smith, B. H., Malone, P. S., & Collaro, A. (2010). Natural experiment in deviant peer exposure and youth recidivism. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 39, 242-251. Abstract
  • Dodge, K. A., Greenberg, M. T., Malone, P. S., & The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group. (2008). Testing an idealized dynamic cascade model of the development of serious violence in adolescence. Child Development, 79, 1907-1927. Abstract

Updated February 1, 2011

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