Desistance : Ecological Factors in an Inner-City Sample

Aiyer aims to improve our understanding about exposure to risk and promotive factors in individual, family, and neighborhood domains during adolescence on desistance in early adulthood. She seeks to identify factors that distinguish high-risk, inner-city males who desisted from those who continued to offend. She finds that aggression, discipline practices, and exposure to neighborhood violence predicted desistance. Further, discipline altered the effect of aggression, suggesting that parenting may play a complex role in the lives of aggressive, inner-city male youth. Overall, the research supports a developmental-ecological theoretical perspective to studying antisocial behavior. Findings additionally suggest that programs designed to improve parent-child dynamics would benefit at-risk youth.