ReviewPsychological bulletin2012
From correlates to causes: can quasi-experimental studies and statistical innovations bring us closer to identifying the causes of antisocial behavior?
Review in Psychological bulletin, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Positive and negative parenting practices and offspring disruptive behavior: A meta-analytic review of quasi-experimental evidence.Psychological bulletin · 2025Pooled it
- Links of Adversity in Childhood With Mental and Physical Health Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Longitudinal Mediating and Moderating Mechanisms.Trauma, violence & abuse · 2023Pooled it
- The relation between behavioral problems and social competence: A correlational Meta-analysis.BMC psychiatry · 2019Pooled it
- Is low positive emotionality a specific risk factor for depression? A meta-analysis of longitudinal studies.Psychological bulletin · 2016Pooled it
- Defining and distinguishing promotive and protective effects for childhood externalizing psychopathology: a systematic review.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2016Pooled it
- Epidemiology of childhood conduct problems in Brazil: systematic review and meta-analysis.Social psychiatry and psychiatric epidemiology · 2013Pooled it
- Maternal smoking during pregnancy and offspring conduct problems: evidence from 3 independent genetically sensitive research designs.JAMA psychiatry · 2013Pooled it
- Annual Research Review: Early conduct problems - precursors, outcomes, and etiology.Journal of child psychology and psychiatry, and allied disciplines · 2026Review
- The etiology of the association between parental nurturance and youth antisocial behavior: Evidence from a twin differences study.JCPP advances · 2025Article
- The dynamic and relational nature of parent-child conflict from childhood into emerging adulthood.Developmental psychology · 2025Article
- Navigating Dual-Harm: Integrating Self- and Other-Harm Into Public Health Inquiry.American journal of public health · 2025Article
- Child effects on positive parenting vary with neighborhood opportunity.Developmental psychology · 2024Article
- Examining intergenerational risk factors for conduct problems using polygenic scores in the Norwegian Mother, Father and Child Cohort Study.Molecular psychiatry · 2024Article
- Resting heart rate and antisocial behaviour: a Mendelian randomisation study.Scientific reports · 2023Article
- Teacher-Student Relationships in Childhood as a Protective Factor against Adolescent Delinquency up to Age 17: A Propensity Score Matching Approach.Crime and delinquency · 2023Article
- The estimation of environmental and genetic parental influences.Development and psychopathology · 2022Article
- Article
- Fair Teachers, Fair Police? Assessing the Pathways between Perceptions of Teacher and Police Authority in Childhood and Adolescence.Journal of youth and adolescence · 2022Article
- Executive Functions in Social Context: Implications for Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Supporting Developmental Trajectories.Annual review of developmental psychology · 2021Article
- Risk factors for disruptive behaviours: protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis of quasi-experimental evidence.BMJ open · 2020Article
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Longitudinal, epidemiological studies have identified robust risk factors for youth antisocial behavior, including harsh and coercive discipline, maltreatment, smoking during pregnancy, divorce, teen parenthood, peer deviance, parental psychopathology, and social disadvantage. Nevertheless, because this literature is largely based on observational studies, it remains unclear whether these risk factors have truly causal effects. Identifying causal risk factors for antisocial behavior would be informative for intervention efforts and for studies that test whether individuals are differentially susceptible to risk exposures. In this article, we identify the challenges to causal inference posed by observational studies and describe quasi-experimental methods and statistical innovations that may move researchers beyond discussions of risk factors to allow for stronger causal inference. We then review studies that used these methods, and we evaluate whether robust risk factors identified from observational studies are likely to play a causal role in the emergence and development of youth antisocial behavior. There is evidence of causal effects for most of the risk factors we review. However, these effects are typically smaller than those reported in observational studies, suggesting that familial confounding, social selection, and misidentification might also explain some of the association between risk exposures and antisocial behavior. For some risk factors (e.g., smoking during pregnancy, parent alcohol problems), the evidence is weak that they have environmentally mediated effects on youth antisocial behavior. We discuss the implications of these findings for intervention efforts to reduce antisocial behavior and for basic research on the etiology and course of antisocial behavior.
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