Explaining multiple patterns of offending across the life and course and across generations

Four general topics are discussed in this article. The first section uses data from the Rochester Youth Development Study to explore the development of antisocial careers across the life course. The second section presents interactional theory's explanation of offending. The theory recognizes that antisocial careers can begin at any point, from childhood through adulthood, and identifies causal influences associated with varying ages of onset. It then offers an explanation for changing patterns of offending. The third section presents an intergenerational extension of the theory, focusing specifically on the major pathways that mediate the impact of a parent's own ado lescent antisocial behavior on the chances that his or her children will also show antisocial behavior. The final sec tion tests key parts of this intergenerational theory using data from the Rochester Intergenerational Study. Adolescent antisocial behavior has indirect effects on a child's early delinquency, mediated by the disruption it causes to the parent's development and his or her subse- quent style of parenting.