Psychological deficits and socioeconomic disadvantage: Illuminating the path from cumulative risk to substance misuse and crime

• In Event: From Cradle to Grave: Crime Across the Entire Life Course

Abstract

The cumulative risk approach has demonstrated that the presence of a single risk factor, such as poverty or maltreatment, is less consequential to negative life outcomes than the accumulation of risk factors across multiple domains. The purpose of this research is to illuminate the developmental processes whereby early exposure to cumulative risk affects criminal offending and substance misuse in adolescence. Drawing on prior research, we identify two basic domains of influence: psychological deficits and socioeconomic disadvantage. Using data from the 1986 Northern Finland Birth Cohort Study, we use structural equation modeling to test a mediating model investigating the relationship between cumulative risk at birth, domains of influence in childhood, and outcomes in adolescence. Thus, we examine the capacity of two complementary pathways to account for the longitudinal association between cumulative risk and deviant behavior. Our model achieves a good fit with the data and the results show that while each etiological domain is influential, the psychological pathway is more influential for criminal behavior whereas socioeconomic disadvantage matters more to substance misuse. We discuss the prevention implications of the observed patterns.

Authors

• Andria Eisman, University of Michigan

• Jukka Savolainen, University of Michigan

• W. Alex Mason, Boys Town National Research Institute for Child and Family Studies