The Use of Early Formal and Informal Control for Childhood Behavior and Long-Term Criminal Activity

• In Event: Revisiting the Critical Role of Childhood Factors in Predicting Later Life Outcomes II

Abstract

Children with behavior problems face a number of possible responses from parents and teachers. Informally, the parents of children who act out may be punitive, denying privileges or using physical discipline like spanking, or they may be permissive, relying on redirecting or positive reinforcement. On a more formal level, children with behavior problems risk being suspended/expelled from school and/or diagnosis with a medical condition and being placed on therapy/medication. Despite the scope of possibilities facing children with conduct problems and the importance of early-life interventions on long-term well-being, we know little about how the relationship between misbehavior and social control process develops across the life-course. Using prospective panel data containing 40 years of information on over 6,000 respondents, I employ a life-course framework to answer three important questions regarding the causes and consequences of childhood social control. First, what individual and family factors influence different types of formal (school punishment and therapy/medication) and informal (spanking, grounding, permissive discipline) social control from birth to adolescence? Second, how does misbehavior and formal and informal social control from birth to adolescence influence long-term criminal activity and drug use? Third, do the causes and consequences of childhood social control vary by race/ethnicity or gender?

Author

• David Michael Ramey, Pennsylvania State University