IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jcjust/v38yi6p1176-1185.html

An empirical examination of adolescence-limited offending: A direct test of Moffitt's maturity gap thesis

Author

Listed:
  • Barnes, J.C.
  • Beaver, Kevin M.

Abstract

Purpose Provide the first direct test of Moffitt's (1993) hypothesis linking the maturity gap with adolescent delinquency.Methods Data were drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and a direct measure of the maturity gap was constructed. Negative binomial regression models--survey-corrected to account for the Add Health research design--were estimated.Results Consistent with Moffitt's theory, the results of the analyses revealed that the maturity gap was predictive of minor forms of delinquency and drug use but not of more serious types of offending behaviors for males. Findings were less supportive of Moffitt's hypothesis for females.Conclusions Moffitt's maturity gap thesis is a viable explanation of adolescent delinquency, especially for males. This portion of the theory, which has largely gone unexamined, warrants further inquiry from criminologists.

Suggested Citation

  • Barnes, J.C. & Beaver, Kevin M., 2010. "An empirical examination of adolescence-limited offending: A direct test of Moffitt's maturity gap thesis," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 38(6), pages 1176-1185, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:38:y::i:6:p:1176-1185
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0047-2352(10)00185-6
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ai, Chunrong & Norton, Edward C., 2003. "Interaction terms in logit and probit models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 80(1), pages 123-129, July.
    2. Eggleston, Elaine P. & Laub, John H., 2002. "The onset of adult offending: A neglected dimension of the criminal career," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 603-622.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nedelec, Joseph L. & Park, Insun & Silver, Ian A., 2016. "The effect of the maturity gap on delinquency and drug use over the life course: A genetically sensitive longitudinal design," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 84-99.
    2. Halibiyati, Halibati & Aratuly, Kuanysh & Serikhan, Adilgazy & Yergali, Adlet M. & Beaver, Kevin M., 2024. "Neuropsychological functioning and its association with juvenile arrest and adulthood incarceration: Findings from a longitudinal sample of youth," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    3. Silver, Ian A., 2019. "Linear and non-linear: An exploration of the variation in the functional form of verbal IQ and antisocial behavior as adolescents age into adulthood," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-1.
    4. Barnes, J.C., 2014. "Catching the Really Bad Guys: An Assessment of the Efficacy of the U.S. Criminal Justice System," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 338-346.
    5. Jennings, Wesley G. & Reingle, Jennifer M., 2012. "On the number and shape of developmental/life-course violence, aggression, and delinquency trajectories: A state-of-the-art review," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 40(6), pages 472-489.
    6. Bekbolatkyzy, Duzbayeva Saltanat & Yerenatovna, Dzhansarayeva Rima & Maratuly, Yergali Adlet & Makhatovna, Atakhanova Gulzagira & Beaver, Kevin M., 2019. "Aging out of adolescent delinquency: Results from a longitudinal sample of youth and young adults," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 108-116.
    7. Silver, Ian A. & Nedelec, Joseph L., 2018. "The moderating effects of intelligence: An examination of how IQ influences the association between environmental factors and antisocial behavior," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 62-75.
    8. Fox, Bryanna H. & Jennings, Wesley G. & Farrington, David P., 2015. "Bringing psychopathy into developmental and life-course criminology theories and research," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 43(4), pages 274-289.
    9. DeLisi, Matt & Piquero, Alex R., 2011. "New frontiers in criminal careers research, 2000-2011: A state-of-the-art review," Journal of Criminal Justice, Elsevier, vol. 39(4), pages 289-301, July.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ian Peacock & Emily Ryo, 2022. "A study of pandemic and stigma effects in removal proceedings," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 19(3), pages 560-593, September.
    2. Hauzenberger, Niko & Huber, Florian & Klieber, Karin & Marcellino, Massimiliano, 2025. "Bayesian neural networks for macroeconomic analysis," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 249(PC).
    3. Cho, Seo-young & Vadlamannati, Krishna Chaitanya, 2010. "Compliance for big brothers: An empirical analysis on the impact of the anti-trafficking protocol," University of Göttingen Working Papers in Economics 118, University of Goettingen, Department of Economics.
    4. Christoph Engel & André Schmelzer, 2017. "Committing the English and the Continental Way – An Experiment," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2017_16, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    5. Li, Chen, 2015. "Do immigrants attract FDI? District-level evidence from Germany," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 113130, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    6. Abel Brodeur, 2012. "Smoking, Income and Subjective Well-Being: Evidence from Smoking Bans," Working Papers halshs-00664269, HAL.
    7. Chowdhury, Shyamal & Ooi, Evarn & Slonim, Robert, 2017. "Racial discrimination and white first name adoption: a field experiment in the Australian labour market," Working Papers 2017-15, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    8. Chiara Benassi, 2016. "Liberalization Only at the Margins? Analysing the Growth of Temporary Work in German Core Manufacturing Sectors," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 54(3), pages 597-622, September.
    9. Charles R. Shipan, 2008. "Partisanship, Ideology, and Senate Voting on Supreme Court Nominees," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 5(1), pages 55-76, March.
    10. Shun-Yang Lee & Julian Runge & Daniel Yoo & Yakov Bart & Anett Gyurak & J. W. Schneider, 2023. "COVID-19 Demand Shocks Revisited: Did Advertising Technology Help Mitigate Adverse Consequences for Small and Midsize Businesses?," Papers 2307.09035, arXiv.org, revised Jan 2024.
    11. Kuhnt, Anne-Kristin & Buhr, Petra, 2016. "Biographical risks and their impact on uncertainty in fertility expectations: A gender-specific study based on the German Family Panel," Duisburger Beiträge zur soziologischen Forschung 2016-03, University of Duisburg-Essen, Institute of Sociology.
    12. Daniel Baumgarten, 2009. "International Outsourcing, the Nature of Tasks, and Occupational Stability – Empirical Evidence for Germany," Ruhr Economic Papers 0108, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    13. Cowling, Marc & Ughetto, Elisa & Lee, Neil, 2018. "The innovation debt penalty: Cost of debt, loan default, and the effects of a public loan guarantee on high-tech firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 166-176.
    14. Yamada, Katsunori & Sato, Masayuki, 2013. "Another avenue for anatomy of income comparisons: Evidence from hypothetical choice experiments," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 89(C), pages 35-57.
    15. Christian Hopp & Christian Lukas, 2014. "A Signaling Perspective on Partner Selection in Venture Capital Syndicates," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 38(3), pages 635-670, May.
    16. Bell, David & Heitmueller, Axel, 2009. "The Disability Discrimination Act in the UK: Helping or hindering employment among the disabled?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 465-480, March.
    17. Beck, Thorsten & Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli & Singer, Dorothe, 2013. "Is Small Beautiful? Financial Structure, Size and Access to Finance," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 19-33.
    18. Dimitris Georgarakos & Roman Inderst, 2011. "Financial Advice and Stock Market Participation," BCL working papers 51, Central Bank of Luxembourg.
    19. Sonja Fagernäs, 2011. "Protection through Proof of Age. Birth Registration and Child Labor in Early 20th Century USA," Working Paper Series 2311, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    20. Hilber, Christian A.L., 2010. "New housing supply and the dilution of social capital," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(3), pages 419-437, May.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jcjust:v:38:y::i:6:p:1176-1185. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jcrimjus .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.