The Development of Aggression and Violence in Adolescence

185 Pages·2017·2.25 MB·English

by  Robert F. Marcus (auth.)

ROBERT F. MARCUS
The Development of Aggression and Violence in
Adolescence
Robert F. Marcus
The Development of
Aggression and
Violence in
Adolescence
Robert F. Marcus
Department of Human Development and Quantitative Methodology
University of Maryland
College Park, Maryland, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-54562-6 ISBN 978-1-137-54563-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54563-3
Library of Congress Control Number: 2017935748
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
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For Elizabeth Hays Singer
Acknowledgments
The writer is grateful for the editorial assistance of Gabrielle Bodzin and
Danielle MacFarland.
vii
Contents
1 I ntroduction 1
2 Normative Aggression and Violence 27
3 Violence in Adolescence 63
4 I ntimate Partner Violence 113
5 Psychopathy in Adolescence 141
Index 171
ix
List of Figures
Fig. 2.1 Aggression and violence prevalence by year, 1993–2013 30
Fig. 2.2 Aggression and violence prevalence by gender, 1993–2013 31
Fig. 2.3 Aggression and violence prevalence by grade, 1993–2013 33
Fig. 2.4 A ggression and violence prevalence by race/ethnicity,
1993–2013 35
Fig. 3.1 V iolent Crime Index Arrest Rates for Juveniles (ages 0–17)
for Males, Females, 1980–2012 (per 100,000 population) 70
Fig. 3.2 A rrest rates by gender for juvenile violent crime index
offenses (VCI), simple assault, weapons violations, and
male/female ratio for 1980, 1994, and 2012 (per 100,000
population) 71
Fig. 3.3 J uvenile arrests rates by age for violent crime index offenses
for years 1980, 1994, and 2012 (per 100,000 population) 72
Fig. 3.4 J uvenile arrest rates for simple assault by age for 1980,
1994, and 2012 (per 100,000 population) 72
Fig. 3.5 J uvenile arrest rates for weapon offenses by age for 1980,
1994, and 2012 (per 100,000 population) 73
Fig. 3.6 A rrest rates by race for violent crime index offenses, simple
assault, and weapons violations for years 1980, 1994, and
2012 (per 100,000 persons) 75
xi
List of Tables
Table 2.1 Aggression, violence, and violence-related questions from the
Youth Risk Behavior Survey 29
Table 3.1 Definitions of four violent index crimes and other assault
(simple) 69
Table 5.1 Measures of psychopathy and psychopathy-related traits
and their factor structures 150
xiii
1
Introduction
The history of civilization over the last 1000 years, particularly in relation
to aggression and violence, has trended toward reduction in violence that
is both officially sanctioned (e.g., in warfare, punishment for crime) and
publicly supported (e.g., lynchings) (Pinker, 2011). Despite such statisti-
cal evidence for this trend, among US adolescents (ages 12–18 years), as
well as “emerging adults” (ages 18–25 years) there are significant excep-
tions to this pacification of violence. Both cohorts remain key outliers
whose behaviors are particularly difficult to explain when considering
their psychological development in this second decade of life, which fol-
lows its own civilizing direction. Human development research suggests
that an improved ability to understand others, regulate emotions such
as anger and fear, skillfully relate to and cooperate with peers, and use
language rather than intimidation to influence others promotes a sophis-
ticated and gentle individual. As developmental psychologists search for
clues to violence occurring later in life, they have long viewed the child-
hood years as a time when the prevalence of aggression, seen commonly
in squabbles among 2-year-olds over toys, gradually declines during
elementary school years as a result of vastly improved cognitive abilities
(Dodge, Coie, & Lynam, 2006; Loeber & Hay, 1993). This implies that
© The Author(s) 2017 1
R.F. Marcus, The Development of Aggression and Violence in Adolescence,
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-54563-3_1