Early Prevention of Adult Antisocial Behaviour

Examines the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of early prevention programmes on levels of adult antisocial behaviour.

David P. Farrington (Edited by), Jeremy W. Coid (Edited by)

9780521651943, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 April 2003

396 pages, 8 tables
23.5 x 16 x 2.9 cm, 0.794 kg

'I thought the chapters in this book covered the topic comprehensively and at a uniformly high level. The book would be indispensable to anyone working in research in this field and most helpful to clinicians interested in prevention.' Psychological Medicine

This book presents a comprehensive summary of how well adult crime, antisocial behaviour and antisocial personality disorder can be prevented by interventions applied early in life. It reviews important childhood risk and protective factors for these adult outcomes and the alternative strategies of primary prevention (targeting the whole community) and secondary prevention (targeting persons identified as high risk) are discussed. The book also contains extensive information about prevention programmes in pregnancy and infancy, pre-school programmes, parent education and training programmes, and school programmes (including the prevention of bullying). There is special emphasis on preventing the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behaviour by focusing on family violence, and a special review of whether risk factors and prevention programmes have different effects for females compared to males. Cost-benefit analyses of early prevention programmes are also reviewed, leading to the conclusion that adult antisocial behaviour can be prevented both effectively and cost-efficiently.

List of figures
List of tables
List of contributors
Preface
1. Advancing knowledge about the early prevention of adult antisocial behaviour David P. Farrington
2. Formulating strategies for the primary prevention of adult antisocial behaviour: 'high risk' or 'population' strategies? Jeremy W. Coid
3. Risk factors for adult antisocial personality Rolf Loeber, Stephanie M. Green and Benjamin B. Lahey
4. Preventing the intergenerational continuity of antisocial behaviour: implications of partner violence Terrie E. Moffitt and Avshalom Caspi
5. Protective factors and resilience Friedrich Lösel and Doris Bender
6. Prevention during pregnancy, infancy and the preschool years Richard E. Tremblay and Christa Japel
7. Prevention through family and parenting programmes David Utting
8. Prevention in the school years J. David Hawkins and Todd I. Herrenkohl
9. Prevention of antisocial behaviour in females Deborah Gorman-Smith
10. Economic costs and benefits of primary prevention of delinquency and later offending: a review of the research Brandon C. Welsh
11. Conclusions and the way forward David P. Farrington and Jeremy W. Coid
Index.

Subject Areas: Psychiatry [MMH], Psychology [JM], Crime & criminology [JKV]