Self-Reported Offending in the United States and Malaysia: Does East Meet West?

To date, international comparisons of self-reported crime have been mostly limited to Western countries. The current study explores offending for large samples of university students in Malaysia ( = 2,058) and the United States ( = 2,511), and utilizes measures of social bond theory to test its predictive utility cross-nationally. The descriptive results reveal that for both males and females, offending rates were substantially higher in the United States, often 3 to 4 times higher.

MATERNAL ACTIVITY DURING PREGNANCY AND SEXUALLY DIMORPHIC TRAITS IN OFFSPRING.

Studies have found positive correlations between prenatal exposure to testosterone and masculinization of offspring traits, particularly among females. The present study sought to determine if physical or sexual activity by the mother during pregnancy was related to masculinized/defeminized offspring traits in adulthood. Data were obtained from a large sample of North American college students (offspring) and their mothers.

Familial Depressive Symptoms and Delinquency: Separate Self-Reports From Mothers and Their Offspring.

Research has documented that both unipolar and bipolar depression are positively correlated with involvement in delinquency and crime. The present study sought to broaden the understanding of these relationships by looking for links between offending and family histories of depressive symptoms in relationship to offspring delinquency. More than 6,000 college students and their mothers provided self-reported information regarding feelings of depression.

Putative Androgen Exposure and Sexual Orientation: Cross-Cultural Evidence Suggesting a Modified Neurohormonal Theory.

Introduction: According to neurohormonal theory, prenatal androgens are key determinants of sexual orientation. As a reputed marker for prenatal androgens, the 2D:4D finger length ratio has been used in more than a dozen studies to test the hypothesis that prenatal androgens influence sexual orientation. Findings have been very inconsistent.

General Theory versus ENA Theory: Comparing Their Predictive Accuracy and Scope.

General theory attributes criminal behavior primarily to low self-control, whereas evolutionary neuroandrogenic (ENA) theory envisions criminality as being a crude form of status-striving promoted by high brain exposure to androgens. General theory predicts that self-control will be negatively correlated with risk-taking, while ENA theory implies that these two variables should actually be positively correlated. According to ENA theory, traits such as pain tolerance and muscularity will be positively associated with risk-taking and criminality while general theory makes no predictions concerning these relationships.

Criminality and the 2D:4D ratio: testing the prenatal androgen hypothesis.

A decade old theory hypothesizes that brain exposure to androgens promotes involvement in criminal behavior. General support for this hypothesis has been provided by studies of postpubertal circulating levels of testosterone, at least among males. However, the theory also predicts that for both genders, prenatal androgens will be positively correlated with persistent offending, an idea for which no evidence currently exists.