Mediating the Effects of Poverty, Gender, Individual Characteristics, and External Constraints on Antisocial Behavior: A Test of the Social Development Model and Implications for Developmental Life-Course Theory *

This chapter has two parts. The first part is an exposition of the social development model (SDM) (Catalano & Hawkins, 1996) and a test of the degree to which the social development processes specified by the SDM mediate the effects of individual and environmental factors, specifically, low socioeconomic status, gender, individual characteristics, and external constraints, on antisocial behavior in early adolescence. The second part discusses how the SDM addresses key empirical and theoretical issues of developmental/life-course theory. It provides perspective on the similarities and differences between the SDM and other developmental life-course theories in this volume.