Obstetrical Complications and Violent Delinquency: Testing Two Developmental Pathways

• Published in: Child development 2002-03, Vol.73 (2), p.496-508
• Main Authors: Arseneault, Louise, Tremblay, Richard E., Boulerice, Bernard, Saucier, Jean-François
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Biological and medical sciences; Boys; Child; Child of Impaired Parents - psychology; Childbirth; Childhood; Children; Complications; Delinquency; Domestic violence; Family Environment; Family Influence; Family relations; Family studies; Female; Forecasts; Human aggression; Humans; Infant, Newborn; Juvenile Delinquency - psychology; Longitudinal Studies; Low Income Groups; Male; Medical sciences; Obstetric labor complications; Obstetric Labor Complications - psychology; Obstetrical Complications; Perinatal Influences; Personality and Social Development; Personality Development; Poverty - psychology; Predictor Variables; Preeclampsia; Pregnancy; Pregnancy complications; Pregnancy Complications - psychology; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Risk Factors; Schizophrenia; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Socioeconomic factors; Violence; Violence - psychology; Violent crime; Violent crimes
• ISSN: 0009-3920; 1467-8624
• DOI: 10.1111/1467-8624.00420

This study focused on the interaction between specific obstetrical complications and early family adversity in predicting violent behavior during childhood and adolescence, in a sample of 849 boys from low socioeconomic areas of Montreal, Canada. Obstetrical complication data from medical records were used to create three scales using a nonlinear principal component analysis followed by rotation. Family adversity and teacherrated physical aggression were assessed when the boys were in kindergarten and self-reports of delinquency were collected when they were 17. Elevated scores on the Deadly Risk Situation scale of obstetrical complications (preeclampsia, umbilical cord prolapse, and induced labor) increased the risk of being violent at both 6 and 17 years of age, only among boys who grew up in high adverse familial environments. Moreover, this interaction partly accounted for the continuity between violence in childhood and adolescence. Interventions for young pregnant women from deprived environments and their babies are discussed in light of these results.