Individual stability of antisocial behavior from childhood to adulthood: Testing the stability postulate of Moffitt's developmental theory

This paper presents a test of Moffitt's (1993) prediction on the stability of longitudinal antisocial behavior, using data from the South-Holland Study. Aggressive (overt) and non-aggressive antisocial (covert) behaviors were measured when subjects were 6-11 years old, and at follow-ups when they were 12-17 years old and 20-25 years old. In accordance with the postulate, we did find a higher level of stability of overt behavior from childhood to adulthood, compared with childhood to adolescence, especially in combination with early manifestations of status violations and/or covert behavior in childhood. Results related to the stability of covert behavior were not in accordance with the prediction, but did support the recently proposed adjustment to the starting age of the adult phase.