Understanding deviance through the dual systems model: Converging evidence for criminology and developmental sciences

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.01.030Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Study tested the dual systems model on 15,000 + respondents from 11 countries.

  • Tested model and its premises from early adolescence to adulthood (12 to 27).

  • Sex differences were found for sensation seeking and impulsivity/impulse control.

  • The observed gap and maturation explained about one third of variability in deviance.

Abstract

According to the dual systems model, adolescent risk-taking is related to asynchronous development of two distinct neurobiological subsystems; this difference leads to a discrepancy or gap that is responsible for an increased propensity for risky behaviors among youth. The current study a) replicated Steinberg et al.'s (2008) findings based on a large, cross-cultural sample; b) tested for potential sex differences in the development of sensation seeking and impulsivity over time; c) tested whether the discrepancy (or gap) between the two traits was associated with deviant behaviors. Based on 15,839 adolescents and young adults from eleven countries, findings largely support basic tenets of the model, among them (1) the sudden increase in sensation seeking, (2) important differences in the quasi-developmental course of risk seeking and impulsivity (impulse control) in male versus female youth, and (3) that the gap between the two is strongly associated with deviance. Findings are discussed in terms of their implications for the age-crime curve and associated conceptual work in criminology focused on maturational reform or crime desistance.

Introduction

From a health and well-being perspective, adolescence could be considered a paradoxical developmental period. On the one hand, adolescents' mental capacities become more powerful, effective, and flexible as compared to children, yet, they are also more vulnerable. This heightened vulnerability manifests itself through a surge in risky and health compromising behaviors. This change is particularly paradoxical as cognitive capacities greatly surpass the ones of children and nearly match the ones of adults (Dahl, 2004, Steinberg, 2007). The dual systems model was proposed as an explanation for these behaviors. The current study tested this model, namely whether impulsivity (impulse control) and sensation seeking levels differ during adolescence (also by sex) and whether this discrepancy (gap) was associated with deviance.

Section snippets

The dual systems model

Proposed by Steinberg and colleagues (Steinberg, 2007, Steinberg et al., 2008), the dual systems model identifies two distinct neurobiological subsystems as underlying the surge in risky behaviors during adolescence, the cognitive control and the socioemotional systems. The former includes the prefrontal cortex and connecting parts of anterior cingulate cortex (Casey and Jones, 2010, Steinberg, 2007) and is related to executive functioning (planning, decision making, impulse control). The

Current study

The current study sought to partially replicate some of the original findings from Steinberg et al.'s (2008) work on the developmental course of the associations between impulse control and sensation seeking. Secondly, like Shulman et al. (2015), it examined whether developmental changes were similar or different by sex. Third, it examined the extent to which the discrepancy score (or gap) predicted deviant behaviors, ranging from vandalism to interpersonal violence. With some exceptions (e.g.,

Sample

The data were collected as part of the International Study of Adolescent Development and Problem Behaviors (ISAD). More information about this study and data collection process can be found in Vazsonyi, Pickering, Junger, and Hessing (2001). The current study includes cross-sectional data from 16,266 participants from 11 countries, namely China (n = 1350), Czech Republic (n = 1222), Hungary (n = 871), Japan (n = 355), the Netherlands (n = 1315), Slovenia (n = 1422), Spain (n = 1030), Switzerland (n = 4018),

Results

Table 2 reports the correlation matrix for the variables of interest. In comparison to female youth, male adolescents reported significantly higher sensation seeking, impulsivity, and deviance. As expected, impulsivity and sensation seeking were positively associated as was deviance with each construct.

Discussion

Study findings were largely consistent with predictions by the dual systems model (Harden and Tucker-Drob, 2011, Shulman et al., 2015, Steinberg et al., 2008); however, some important differences emerged. First, Steinberg et al. (2008) found support for both linear and quadratic developmental changes in sensation seeking, but only linear negative ones for impulsivity. The current findings are consistent with evidence by Shulman et al. (2015), who found evidence of cubic developmental changes in

Conclusions

The current study used a large sample of adolescents and young adults to test basic propositions of the dual systems model. Several important findings emerged: 1) both sensation seeking and impulsivity (impulse control) showed cubic associations with age; 2) levels of sensation seeking and impulsivity (impulse control) were significantly higher for males than females in most age groups; 3) sensation seeking differences between males and females increased with age; and 4) the discrepancy score

Acknowledgements

We are indebted to all the schools, its administrators, and the students who completed the surveys; we would also like to thank Drs. Dick Hessing and Marianne Junger, Ginesa Torrente-Hernandez, Chuen-Jim Sheu, Li Huang, and Esra Burcu for their assistance in collecting data in the Netherlands, Spain, Taiwan, China, and Turkey, respectively. Partial support for data collections in Slovenia and the Czech Republic were provided to the first author by a Fulbright grant and by the Fulbright-Masaryk

References (31)

  • D.P. Farrington

    Age and crime

    Journal of Crime and Justice

    (1986)
  • M.R. Gottfredson et al.

    A general theory of crime

    (1990)
  • H.G. Grasmick et al.

    Testing the core empirical implications of Gottfredson and Hirschi's general theory of crime

    Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency

    (1993)
  • K.P. Harden et al.

    Individual differences in the development of sensation seeking and impulsivity during adolescence: Further evidence for a dual systems model

    Developmental Psychology

    (2011)
  • T. Hirschi

    Causes of delinquency

    (1969)
  • Cited by (30)

    • Individual and developmental differences in delinquency: Can they be explained by adolescent risk-taking models?

      2021, Developmental Review
      Citation Excerpt :

      Other studies have used an observed difference score approach in which individual imbalance is operationalised in terms of the difference between a cognitive control score and sensation-seeking score. Vazsonyi and Ksinan (2017), for example, found that scores constructed this way predicted deviant behaviour among adolescents. However, as discussed elsewhere (Meisel et al., 2019), difference scores confound the effects of the difference score components (sensation-seeking and self-regulation) with the imbalance between them, and impose implicit constraints on the relations between these components and the outcome (e.g., delinquency), constraining the effects of the components to be of equal but opposite sign.

    • Parental vigilance, low self-control, and Internet dependency among rural adolescents

      2020, Child and Adolescent Online Risk Exposure: An Ecological Perspective
    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text