The Development of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking: Sources of Between- And
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The Development of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking: Sources of Between- and Within-Individual Differences Over Time and Across Sex by Kara Valentina Hannula A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved April 2019 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Gary Sweeten, Chair Scott Decker Adam Fine ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2019 ABSTRACT Criminological theories have long incorporated personality traits as key explanatory factors and have generally relied on assumptions of trait stability. However, growing evidence from a variety of fields including criminology, psychology, and neurobiology is demonstrating that personality traits are malleable over the life-course, and substantial individual variation exists in the developmental patterns of personality traits over time. This research is forcing criminologists to consider how and why “enduring” individual characteristics may change over the life course in ways that are meaningfully related to offending. Two traits that have been consistently linked to offending and conflated in key criminological theories (i.e. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s (1990) self-control theory), impulsivity and sensation seeking, have recently been shown to be independent personality traits with different normative maturational timetables and biological underpinnings. This dissertation extends this work by examining developmental patterns of impulsivity and sensation seeking and social sources of variation in these traits with the Family and Community Health Survey, a longitudinal data set that consists of approximately 900 African American youth and their families followed from late childhood to their late-twenties. Multiple longitudinal modeling methods are employed (hierarchical linear modeling and group-based trajectory modeling) to address this research agenda. Results from this dissertation lead to four broad conclusions. First, and in support of existing research, there is substantial variability in developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Average developmental trajectories of these traits greatly mask the degree of individual variability in developmental patterns that exists. Second, social factors are significantly associated with levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Socio-environmental experiences characterized by hostility and unsupportiveness are generally associated with elevated i levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking while socio-environmental experiences characterized by warmth and supportiveness are associated with lower levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Third, sex differences in developmental patterns of impulsivity are nonexistent while sex differences in developmental patterns of sensation seeking are significant. Finally, with few exceptions, predictors of trait levels operate in a general fashion such the same factors typically explain both male and female trait levels and produce similar effects on impulsivity and sensation seeking. ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS In many ways, I’m still in awe that this research project is nearing completion. While the research and writing aspects of this project were at times difficult, the real challenge of the dissertation process was emotional in nature when I struggled to maintain confidence in my abilities, and even desire, to complete such a massive endeavor. I am thankful I never gave up, and I owe that to the support I received from an incredible group of people. Most importantly, I would like to thank my committee for their support, guidance, and flexibility. In particular, thank you to Dr. Gary Sweeten for patiently waiting for me to “come back” to the program, letting me attempt the near-impossible by completing the dissertation on an incredibly tight timeline, and always being available to answer my questions. Thank you to Dr. Scott Decker for always being an incredible source of support; your confidence in me helped me maintain confidence in myself. Thank you to Dr. Adam Fine for your willingness to jump on my committee at the last minute and providing thoughtful, challenging, and helpful feedback. The time you all invested in me is immensely appreciated. Each of you has taught me important lessons about how to interact with my students that I will carry with me for years to come. I would not have completed my degree without my incredible social support network, primarily consisting of Callie Burt, Anne Tseng, and Arynn Infante, among other ASU graduate students (Kyle Ernest, Chantal Fahmy, Megan Parry, Kimberly Kaiser, and Kate Ginsburg Kempany) and non-academic friends (especially Derek House for financially motivating me). Callie, thank you for constantly reminding me to give myself the self-care I need and to proceed as if success is inevitable. Also, thank you for putting up with my decision to throw myself into my dissertation for several months which led to long nights at the office and a total neglect of our personal lives. Arynn, your iii support has been invaluable. Our daily communication has kept me from falling into bouts of serious self-doubt and has kept me focused on just getting it done. Your emotional support and logistical aid (constantly being my chauffeur and dining budding) during my visits to Phoenix made the entire dissertation process so much more manageable. And, as we all know, misery loves company, so it was great to have someone in my life who genuinely understood my struggles. Anne, I’m not sure I would have completed my dissertation without our writing sessions—as you know, our first writing session was a major turning point for me. The social support and social control you provided by writing by my side was more influential in my completion of this project than you could possibly imagine. Although perhaps odd, I would probably regret failing to acknowledge the individuals/things that helped maintain my motivation throughout this process. The people who will most likely never know how much they helped me in the process include Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark of the My Favorite Murder podcast who kept me laughing throughout this process, and Enya, who composed, hands-down, the best studying/writing music in existence to this day. Finally, I would like to thank my parents, Rick and Joyce Hannula, for instilling in me a love of learning, demonstrating how to be a compassionate, caring, and effective teacher, and unconditionally supporting all of my academic pursuits. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................... 1 Purpose of Current Study ........................................................................................ 7 Organization of Dissertation ................................................................................... 9 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ........................................................................................... 11 Trait Heterogeneity as an Explanation of Criminal Behavior ............................... 11 Empirical Links Between Personality Traits and Offending ................................. 11 Personality Traits in Theoretical Explanations of Offending ................................ 14 Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Self-Control .......................................................... 22 Between- and Within-Individual Variation in Traits ........................................... 34 Stability of Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Self-Control ........................................ 34 Sources of Between and Within Individual Variation in Traits ............................ 46 Social Sources of Personality Trait Variation ................................................. 50 Social Sources of Variation in Gottfredson and Hirschi’s Self-Control ........... 51 Social Sources of Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking ..................................... 55 Conclusions ......................................................................................................56 Social Schematic Theory as A Framework for Trait Variation .............................. 57 Sex Differences...................................................................................................... 62 Sex Differences in Impulsivity and Sensation Seeking ................................... 66 Current Study ......................................................................................................... 72 3 DATA AND METHODS ........................................................................................... 76 v CHAPTER Page Overview ................................................................................................................ 76 Procedures ............................................................................................................. 76 Sample ................................................................................................................... 77 Measures ............................................................................................................... 78 Dependent Variables ....................................................................................... 78 Independent Variables ....................................................................................