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Developmental Prevention Of Antisocial Behavior In Australia

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Antisocial behaviour particularly, among young people has become an important political and social issue of major concern to parents, teachers, police and governments and it is a significant cost to the community across Australia and overseas (Smart, Vassallo, Sanson, & Dossier, 2004). Prospective studies indicate that many of these life-persistent antisocial individuals began their aggressive behaviour in early childhood, peak during adolescence, and very gradually desist as they move into later adulthood (Moffit, 1993). This literature review focus on antisocial behaviour among young people. This paper will review several studies that have evaluated developmental prevention programs for antisocial behaviour and identified what works based…show more content…
Antisocial behaviour has negative impacts on community perceptions of safety and people’s quality of life. For example, it could be intimidating the establishment and maintenance of a safe and secure community, which is an important for community wellbeing and cohesion as well as sound economic growth through continuing business activity and investment. According to Armitage (2002), individual who engaged in antisocial behaviour can be result in excluded from important support mechanism such as school, their families and service providers. Involvement in antisocial behaviour can be persists throughout adolescence into adulthood, becoming a more significant social issue with long term negative consequences for the individual, their family and the wider community. The research also found that individuals who went on to engage in persistent antisocial behaviour during adolescence were consistently reported to be more aggressive, and more temperamentally reactive from mid-childhood onwards than individuals who later engaged in little or no antisocial behaviour. They also risk coming into contact with the criminal justice system. According to…show more content…
2002). Several studies have suggested that if antisocial behaviour is not address, it can act as a substance for more serious crimes. Skogan (1990) refers to this as the ‘contagion theory’ suggesting that the ‘presence of vandalism stimulates more vandalism’. This is supported by many studies which found that the presence of antisocial behaviour such as vandalism, or criminal damages leads directly to more antisocial behaviour. Wilson and Kelling, refer to this contagious effect as the ‘broken windows theory’ (Armitage, 2002). It is also widely recognised that early intervention and prevention can restrain the development of these problems. According to Smart et al. (2004), some degree of antisocial behaviour is common among adolescents. However, there are distinct patterns both in the timing, the frequency and the nature of the antisocial behaviours which need to be taken into consideration by prevention strategies. Early interventions to divert children from pathways to persistent antisocial behaviour are most appropriate during the primary school
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