Deck 9: Developmental Theories: Life Course, Latent Trait, and Trajectory

Question 1

Those who study _______________ attempt to provide a more global vision of a criminal career, encompassing its onset, continuation, and termination.

Answer 1

developmental criminology

Question 2

Most theories focus on why people get involved in crime. In an important 1993 work, Crime in the Making , Robert Sampson and John Laub instead focused on whether there are trails back to _______.

Answer 2

conformity

Question 3

Life course theories recognize that as people mature the factors that influence their behaviors change. At first, family relations may be most influential. In later adolescence, _________ and _________ relations dominate.

Answer 3

school, peer,peer, school

Question 4

A cluster of antisocial behaviors is referred to as __________.

Question 5

Building __________________positive relations with individuals and institutions that are life sustaining supports conventional behavior and inhibits deviant behavior.

Question 6

A __________________ is a stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition present at birth or soon after that makes some people crime-prone over the life course.

Question 7

Children who are improperly ______ by unskilled parents are the most likely to rebel by wandering the streets with deviant peers.

Question 8

The concept of ____________assumes that the propensity of an individual to participate in antisocial and/or criminal behaviors is a relatively stable trait, unchanging over their life course.

Question 9

Models of crime causation that weave social and individual variables into a complex explanatory chain are termed ______ theories.

Question 10

Some offenders are specialists, whereas others are __________.

Question 11

__________________, in his Philadelphia cohort research, identified a small group of chronic offenders who engaged in frequent and repeated criminal activity across their life spans.

Question 12

Integrating ___________, social, and psychological elements, the Gluecks' research suggested that the initiation and continuity of a criminal career was a developmental process influenced by both internal and external situations, conditions, and circumstances.

Question 13

In a critical 1990 article, David Rowe, D. Wayne Osgood, and W. Alan Nicewander proposed the concept of _______ to explain the flow of crime over the life cycle.

Question 14

___________________ and Eleanor Glueck are today considered founders of the developmental branch of criminological theory.

Question 15

According to the principles of age-graded theory, repeated negative life experiences create a condition called __________________.

Question 16

According to Sampson and Laub, _____ are the life events that alter the development of a criminal career.

Question 17

_________ are cognitive frameworks that help people quickly process and sort through information.

Question 18

When Elaine Eggleston Doherty and Margaret Ensminger analyzed the relationship between marriage and official arrest, they found strong evidence of a ________________________.

Question 19

_______ is a view of criminal career formation that holds there are multiple paths to crime.

Question 20

Wolfgang found that while many offenders commit a single criminal act and thereafter desist from crime, a small group of ___________________engage in frequent and repeated criminal activity and continue to do so across their life span.

Question 21

Gottfredson and Hirschi trace the root cause of poor self-control to inadequate _________.

Question 22

The view that human development is controlled by a stable propensity or "master trait," present at birth or soon after, is known as_____ theory.

A) strain
B) social economic
C) age
D) latent trait

Question 23

Which is not more typical of early-onset girls compared to early-onset boys?

A) suicide
B) depression
C) substance abuse
D) relationship problems

Question 24

According to life course theories, over time an individuals' behaviors will:

A) stay the same.
B) get worse.
C) get better.
D) all of the above

Question 25

The branch of criminology that examines change in a criminal career over the life course is known as:

A) the social development model.
B) developmental criminology.
C) the general theory of crime.
D) social control theory.

Question 26

According to ______, crime is a type of social problem rather than the product of other problems.

A) personality syndrome
B) psychological syndrome
C) emotional syndrome
D) problem behavior syndrome

Question 27

The _________ pathway to crime begins with minor, underhanded behavior such as lying and shoplifting, which leads to property damage and later escalates to more serious forms of criminality.

Question 28

According to latent trait theories, while the _____ to commit crime is stable, the opportunity to commit crime fluctuates over time.

A) desire
B) ability
C) motivation
D) propensity

Question 29

According to Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime, the propensity to commit crime is tied directly to a person's level of __________________.

Question 30

Policy initiatives based on the premises of developmental theory tend to be _______ efforts designed to provide at-risk kids with personal, social, educational, and family services.

Question 31

Critics of the general theory of crime claim that it is _________ or involves circular reasoning.

Question 32

What does research show to be a key factor in terms of the early onset of criminality?

A) personality disorders
B) racism
C) poor parental discipline
D) close peer relationships

Question 33

Which is not an antisocial behavior that problem behavior syndrome suggests affects the likelihood of criminal behavior?

A) unemployment
B) free will
C) family dysfunction
D) abuses

Question 34

__________________ and Richard Herrnstein published Crime and Human Nature in 1985 and suggested that personal traits such as genetic makeup, intelligence, and body build may outweigh the importance of social variables as predictors of criminal activity.

Question 35

Most young offenders follow one of two paths. "Typical teenagers" who get into minor scrapes and engage in what might be considered rebellious teenage behavior with their friends are considered to be __________________.

Question 36

A development theory that modifies social control theory by integrating concepts from biosocial, psychological, routine activities, and rational choice theories is the ___________.

Question 37

The __________________ pathway to crime begins at an early age with stubborn behavior.

Question 38

The foundation of developmental theory can be traced to _______, who researched the life cycle of delinquent careers in the 1930s.

A) Marvin Wolfgang
B) Sheldon and Eleanor Glueck
C) Rolf Loeber
D) Sampson and Laub

Question 39

__________________are a small group of offenders who begin their career at an early age and then continue to offend well into adulthood. For this group, the seeds of crime persistence are planted early in life and may combine the effects of abnormal traits, such as neurological deficits, with severe family dysfunction.

Question 40

The view that criminality is a dynamic process influenced by a multitude of individual characteristics, traits, and social experiences is known as:

A) the social development model.
B) life course theory.
C) interactional theory.
D) human nature theory.

Question 41

Positive relations with individuals and institutions that are life sustaining are known as:

A) social connections.
B) antisocial bonds.
C) social capital.
D) turning points.

Question 42

The life events most likely to enable adult offenders to desist from crime are:

A) religion and marriage.
B) marriage and career.
C) education and religion.
D) marriage and education.

Question 43

When referring to age-graded theory, research supports Sampson and Laub's assertion that criminal career trajectories can be reversed if:

A) life conditions improve.
B) criminal labels are withdrawn.
C) criminal labels are not internalized.
D) social capital is reduced.

Question 44

Which cognitive framework helps people quickly process and sort through information?

A) social schema
B) propensity
C) latent trait
D) social contract

Question 45

According to Farrington, ____________involves direct forms of physical violence such as robbery, sexual assault, or other forms of assault.

A) predation
B) defiance
C) submission
D) control

Question 46

According to Farrington, __________challenges control mechanisms but stops short of physical harm; for example, in such cases as vandalism, curfew violations, and unconventional sex.

A) predation
B) defiance
C) submission
D) deviance

Question 47

The general theory of crime identifies five life domains that shape how an individual reacts to constraints and motivations. Which of these is not a life domain?

A) self
B) religion
C) family
D) school

Question 48

A stable feature, characteristic, property, or condition present at birth or established early in life that makes some people crime-prone over the life course is known as a(n):

A) life factor.
B) hidden characteristic.
C) underlying feature.
D) latent trait.

Question 49

An inclination or tendency to behave in a particular way is called a(n):

A) propensity.
B) factor.
C) incidence.
D) trait.

Question 50

What theory developed by Gottfredson and Hirschi considers the criminal offender and the criminal act as separate concepts?

A) human nature theory
B) age-graded theory
C) interactional theory
D) general theory of crime

Question 51

_____ who have early experiences with antisocial behavior are the ones most likely to persist in such throughout their life course.

A) Boys
B) Girls
C) Boys and girls
D) Children of adopted parents

Question 52

Life events that enable adult offenders to desist from crime are known as:

A) developmental shifts.
B) transition events.
C) key spots.
D) turning points.

Question 53

Most life course theories posit that the seeds of a criminal career are planted:

A) during young adulthood (20s).
B) at any time during the life course.
C) late in life.
D) early in life.

Question 54

_____ is a crime-reducing social event. Research proves it to be a key element of social capital and informal social control that allows offenders to lead more conventional lifestyles.

A) Unemployment
B) Marriage
C) Exiting prison
D) Being a victim

Question 55

High levels of coercion produce criminality; coercion that involves pressures beyond an individual's control, such as economic and social pressure caused by unemployment or poverty, is termed _____ coercion.

A) covert
B) latent
C) interpersonal
D) impersonal

Question 56

According to Farrington, ____________ involves passive obedience to the demands of others, such as submitting to physical or sexual abuse without response.

A) predation
B) defiance
C) submission
D) trait

Question 57

Most life course theories assume that the seeds of a criminal career are planted early in life and that early onset of deviance strongly predicts:

A) the cycle of violence.
B) subsequent poor parenting ability.
C) one's age of desistance.
D) later and more serious criminality.

Question 58

What is known about the marriage factor and crime?

A) People who maintain successful marriages are more likely to mature out of a life of crime.
B) Marriage stabilizes people.
C) The marriage benefit may be intergenerational.
D) All of these are true about the marriage factor and crime.

Question 59

According to latent trait theories, why are people who are antisocial during adolescence the most likely to persist in crime?

A) b ecause latent traits are stable
B) because adolescents tend to associate with deviant peers
C) because educational achievement is more difficult during an adolescent's middle- and high-school years
D) because cognitive ability is fully formed by adolescence

Question 60

According to theories of the life course, information processing and attention/perception are examples of _____ factors.

A) situational
B) socialization
C) social
D) cognitive

Question 61

Life course theories are inherently integrated theories that suggest events taking place over the life course influence life choices.

Question 62

According to research on persistence patterns, _______ traits rather than environmental traits seem to have the greatest influence on life course persistence.

A) social
B) individual
C) economic
D) family

Question 63

Social learning theories hold that human development is controlled by a stable propensity or "master trait" present at birth or soon after.

Question 64

Problem behavior syndrome portrays crime as a type of social problem rather than the product of other social problems.

Question 65

One flaw with life course theories is that as people mature they do not take into account things that influence behavior change as well.

Question 66

The concept of population heterogeneity assumes that the propensity of an individual to participate in antisocial and/or criminal behaviors is a relatively stable trait, unchanging over their life course.

Question 67

The pathway of crime that begins with bullying and annoying others, then escalates to physical fighting and violence, is known as the ______ pathway.

A) power
B) authority conflict
C) overt
D) covert

Question 68

One of the small group of offenders whose criminal career continues well into adulthood is known as:

A) life course persisters.
B) latent traiters.
C) developmentally overt.
D) introverts

Question 69

Youths who join gangs are 30 percent less likely to graduate from high school and 58 percent less likely to earn a four-year degree than youths of similar background who do not become gang members

Question 70

The pathway of crime that begins at an early age, with stubborn behavior leading to deviance and then to authority avoidance, is known as the _____ pathway.

A) power
B) authority conflict
C) overt
D) covert

Question 71

The Gluecks' research was highly praised for nearly 30 years as the study of crime and delinquency shifted almost exclusively to social factors.

Question 72

Programs and policies based on developmental theory typically feature _____ treatment efforts.

A) economic-related
B) singular-focused
C) faith-based
D) multisystemic

Question 73

Gottfredson and Hirschi identify people with limited self-control as tending to be:

A) sensitive.
B) aggressive.
C) irrational.
D) impulsive.

Question 74

The concept of overt stability suggests that people change and develop as they mature; life events have a significant influence on future behavior.

Question 75

Most offenders' antisocial behavior peaks during adolescence and then diminishes as they mature until around the age of 18. These offenders are known as:

A) adolescent-limiteds.
B) life course persisters.
C) adolescent-diminishers.
D) social-persisters.

Question 76

Developmental theories attempt to provide a global vision of a criminal career, encompassing its onset, persistence, and desistance.

Question 77

Who developed the life course theory to offer separate explanations for persistent offenders and adolescent-limited offenders?

A) Moffitt
B) Sampson and Laub
C) Agnew
D) Lombroso

Question 78

Adolescents with a history of gang involvement are more likely to have been expelled from school, be binge drinkers, and test positive for marijuana.

Question 79

Gottfredson and Hirschi trace the root cause of poor self-control to inadequate:

A) nutrition and health care.
B) intelligence.
C) child-rearing practices.
D) education.

Question 80

Criminal conduct has been found to increase the chances of premature death due to both natural and unnatural causes, including deaths from accidents, homicide, and suicide.