Abstract
Scientists believe that if they could discover the mystery of why females are antisocial so seldom, they will discover the magic key to the mystery of why males are antisocial so often. In this book, a team from criminology, psychiatry, and developmental psychology takes a novel look at sex differences in the developmental course, causes, and consequences of antisocial behaviour. The book presents all-new findings from the Dunedin longitudinal study, a landmark investigation of 1,000 males and females who have been studied intensively from ages 3 to 21 years. The new findings in the book’s 17 chapters show that young people develop antisocial behaviour for two main reasons. One form of antisocial behaviour is a neurodevelopmental disorder afflicting males, with low prevalence in the population, early childhood onset, and subsequent persistence. The other form of antisocial behaviour, afflicting females as well as males, is quite common, and emerges in adolescence in the context of social relationships. The book opens windows on the fundamental etiology of antisocial behaviour; it rules out old hypotheses and puts forward a new agenda to stimulate research into both neurodevelopmental and social influences on the origins of antisocial behaviour.