Joanne Savage

The effects of media violence exposure on criminal aggression: a meta-analysis

The article presents a meta-analysis of studies—yielding 26 independent samples of subjects—on the relationship between exposure to media violence and violent aggression. Mean effect sizes from aggregate and experimental studies do not suggest that media violence and criminal aggression are positively associated, but findings from prospective longitudinal studies are more ambiguous. Summary statistics based on models strictly conforming to each studys original design were compared to post hoc models (in which measures or model specification were not consistent with the original description). Overall, “original” models, controlling for “trait,” did not suggest that exposure to media violence is associated with criminal aggression. The summary statistic for boys reached statistical significance, but the effect size was small, and conclusions based on this finding are attenuated because of known biases in the coefficients estimated.

Economic Assistance and Crime: A Cross-National Investigation

Many countries struggle with the question of appropriate social welfare spending. Here we test several hypotheses about the dynamics between social welfare spending and crime. We do so using pooled, cross-national time-series data. Our findings suggest that per capita social welfare spending is associated with lower rates of both theft and homicide. Time lagged analysis suggests that the current level of social welfare spending, not that of recent years, accounts for any possible suppression of crime. The data also suggest that, whereas high homicide rates do not appear to inspire increased social welfare generosity, lagged measures of theft rates are associated with subsequent increases in social welfare spending among high theft countries.

The Role of Exposure to Media Violence in the Etiology of Violent Behavior A Criminologist Weighs In

Criminologists have been conspicuously absent from the debate about media violence and aggression. In this article, the author attempts to fill this void by discussing the relationship between exposure to television and film violence and violent behavior in the context of the empirical and theoretical literature on violent crime. Some criticisms of the literature on media violence are offered. The disjuncture between the absence of media violence in the criminological literature and the emphasis on it in other disciplines is also discussed. It is concluded that the empirical literature on media violence and aggression has not established that exposure to media violence causes violent criminal behavior.

Social capital, crime and human nature

In the present article, a reinterpretation of the concept of social capital is forwarded that incorporates the principles of evolutionary psychology. The authors propose that social capital, from the evolutionary psychological perspective, is any social relationship that, directly or indirectly, helps an individual maximize reproductive success through promoting survival, the acquisition of resources, mating, or the promotion of offspring to sexual maturity. The evolutionary psychology–informed construct of social capital is applied to several theoretical domains in the field of criminology to demonstrate how this perspective can bridge theories on the proximate causes of crime with the “ultimate” causes of human nature and human behavior.

Intergenerational Transmission: Physical Abuse and Violent vs. Nonviolent Criminal Outcomes

In this paper we test several specific hypotheses derived from the intergenerational transmission of violence thesis to see if exposure to physical abuse has a special role in the etiology of violence. We employ a systematic statistical approach using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health). Our findings suggest that a history of physical abuse is strongly associated with frequency of violence, but the association is not specific to violence and is mediated by their common association with nonviolent offending. Further, the association between physical abuse and violence is not significantly larger than the association between neglect or sexual abuse and violence. In summary, the data suggest that the association between abuse and violence is not unique to physical abuse and that the impact of physical abuse is not specific to violent behavior.

Social capital and the human psyche: Why is social life capital?

In this article, we propose a revised definition of social capital, premised on the principles of evolutionary psychology. We define social capital as any feature of a social relationship that, directly or indirectly, confers reproductive benefits to a participant in that relationship. This definition grounds the construct of social capital in human nature by providing a basis for inferring the underlying motivations that humans may have in common, rather than leaving the matter of what humans use capital for unspoken. Discussions and empirical reviews are presented on the innateness of human sociability, sex differences in sociability, and psychological mechanisms that mediate sociability.

Changes in child welfare and subsequent crime rate trends: A cross-national test of the lagged nurturance hypothesis

Abstract The General Evolutionary Ecological Paradigm for understanding criminal behavior [Criminology 32 (1994) 501.] predicts that social programs which improve the quality of such things as maternal and infant health care, parenting, and education will tend to reduce population-level crime rates 10–15 years later when children exposed to those conditions reach adolescence and early adulthood. This prediction—more simply referred to as the “lagged nurturance hypothesis”—is theoretically important because it integrates population-level perspectives on crime with the large body of microlevel research linking child development with delinquency. We test the lagged nurturance hypothesis using an extensive set of cross-national data. Despite inherent measurement and methodological difficulties associated with cross-national research that weaken statistical power, our findings support the lagged nurturance hypothesis. Implications for future research and public policy are discussed.

Human ecology, crime, and crime control: linking individual behavior and aggregate crime.

Abstract The paper extends previous research published by Cohen, Machalek, Vila, and others on the evolutionary‐ecological paradigm for understanding criminal behavior. After reviewing literature related to human ecology and crime, the paper focuses on elements relevant to human ecology—biology, development, and ecological factors—and their role in criminal behavior. Major emphasis is placed on the linkages between individual factors and macro‐level crime using chronic offending as a case in point. The principles of evolutionary ecology then are used to discuss counterstrategies to crime, and the prospects for protection/avoidance, deterrent, and nurturant strategies in light of evidence on chronic offending.

Physical Abuse Victimization and Violence in the Transition to Adulthood: The Mediating Role of Alcohol and Drug Use

ABSTRACT In the present paper we examine the association between physical abuse victimization in childhood and violent criminal behavior in the transition from adolescence to adulthood (TAA). Of central interest is whether that association is indirect, through the impact of abuse victimization on alcohol and drug use. We employ a statistical test for indirect effects, using a design that also applies Savage and Wozniak’s (2016) “differential etiology of violence” standard. The data suggest that the effect of physical abuse on violence in the TAA is partially indirect, mediated by alcohol and drug use. A control for nonviolent offending is applied to build confidence that the dynamic between abuse victimization and substance use is a differential predictor of violence.

Long-Term Effects of Neglect on Violence: Are They Spurious or Indirect?

Abstract Purpose In the present paper we explore the long-term influence of childhood neglect on violent behavior in the transition to adulthood. In particular, we test whether neglect is spuriously related to violence due to their common association with academic achievement, physical abuse, and general offending. We then ask whether neglect has an indirect effect on violence through its impact on parental attachment, alcohol use, emotional negativity, academic achievement, or staying in school. Methodology/approach We use two waves of data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) and employ both regression models and INDIRECT, a syntax file that allows for the testing of indirect effects using SPSS (Preacher & Hayes, 2008). Findings We find that the long-term association between childhood neglect and violence in the transition to adulthood is robust in models controlling for GPA, physical abuse, and other forms of offending. Neglect did not have an indirect effect on violence through attachment, negative emotionality, or academic achievement but did have indirect effects on violence through its association with staying in school and with alcohol use. Research implications This set of analyses was exploratory in nature. Further research on neglect should be undertaken, using finely tuned measures and research questions. In addition, our findings imply that the association between neglect and later violent behavior may be intertwined with certain dynamics of physical abuse and alcohol use, which should be further studied.