https://studiegids.vu.nl/en/courses/2024-2025/P_MJUVDELThis course discusses the development of antisocial behavior, including juvenile delinquency. The role of both environmental factors and personal (possibly innate) factors is discussed. The aim is to gain insight into how personal and environmental factors (and the interaction between those factors) explain why children and young people show serious antisocial behavior. In addition, various interventions in the family and school environment are discussed that are aimed at preventing antisocial development and/or positively reversing emerging antisocial development. At the end of the course you will be able to:Describe risk factors for the development of antisocial behavior and juvenile delinquency, such as: biological, (neuro)cognitive, intrapsychic and environmental factors;Describe and explain the interaction and influence of these risk factors on the development of antisocial behavior;Describe the content, purpose and target group of various (preventive) intervention programs aimed at antisocial behavior;Critically assess the intervention programs, explain the effectiveness of these interventions and provide scientifically substantiated suggestions for improving the interventions;Link the study material to and apply it to clinical cases in practice.The course Juvenile Delinquency and Antisocial Development focuses on the origin, course and consequences of behavioral problems leading to antisocial development. Environmental factors such as parent-child relationships and relationships with peers and child factors of a genetic, neurocognitive and biosocial nature are discussed. Each week focuses on a specific aspect that may underlie the development of antisocial behavior. Using case studies, you study what role that aspect plays in the antisocial development of children and to what extent that aspect can explain the behavior of the case person. Potential interventions are also discussed. Topics include:Manifestation, risk factors and consequencesParents, peers and school environmentMoral affect and personalityStress and traumaNeuropsychological factorsInteraction between genetic factors and environmentDevelopmental cascades You will need the knowledge from this course if you want to continue in the professional field in which you deal with children and adolescents with (serious) behavioral problems and their parents, such as in forensic youth care and primary care, or as a mental health psychologist or school psychologist. In addition, it is also useful knowledge if you want to work as a policy officer in youth care or if you want to further specialize in research into the development of antisocial behavior and juvenile delinquency.The course consists of working groups, lectures and self-study. Each week focuses on a specific theme that may be underlying the development of antisocial behavior and juvenile delinquency. On the basis of "state of the art" empirical evidence (literature) and on the basis of case material used in the working groups, the role that relevant theme plays in the antisocial development of young people is studied. It is also examined to what extent that aspect can explain the behavior of the person in the case. Various (preventive) intervention programs aimed at home, school and child factors are discussed.The final exam in this course is a take-home writing assignment. You will be given a problem situation to which you will provide evidence-based advice and guidance in the form of a report to the referral source. You will need to formulate this advice following the guiding questions that are listed in the exam itself. In your report, you must make references to and use specific examples from the empirical literature, including using proper APA formatting for the in-text citations and reference list. We anticipate that the exam will require approximately 24 hours of working time (i.e., 3 days of 8-hours each) to complete at a sufficient level. The final exam comprises 100% of your course grade, and you must earn a 5.5 or higher in order to meet the requirement of passing. Furthermore, attending and participating in working groups is mandatory. Sufficient tutorial attendance is required to pass this course.The complete list of literature for this course is list in Canvas. All assigned readings are not only essential for participating in the tutorials and understanding the lecture content, but are also possible exam material, including topics and papers not discussed during tutorials or lectures.The target audience for this course is students enrolled in the Research Master program in Clinical and Developmental Psychopathology, but participation is permitted by students with the recommended background knowledge from other study programs as well.Not applicable. There are no deviations from the regular course registration process.This course is taught every two years. It is taught in 2024-2025, but not in 2025-2026.Not applicable. There are no mandatory entry requirements for a student to be able to participate in this course. However, please review the recommended background knowledge below.This course builds on courses in which the manifestation, etiology, course and consequences of antisocial behavior and related disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD) in children and adolescents have been broadly discussed. Examples are the VU bachelor's psychology courses Introduction to Psychology and Developmental Psychology and Psychopathology (B1) and Emotion, Cognition and Behavior from a Clinical Perspective (B2). In those subjects, students who have completed a VU bachelor's degree in psychology have gained insight into environmental (parents and peers) and personal factors that can positively or negatively influence the development of young people. Topics such as attachment theory, parenting styles and parent-child relationships and peer relationships have been discussed in those courses. Furthermore, topics such as (epi)genetics, psychophysiology and brain structures and processes are covered in courses such as Biological and Cognitive Psychology, Neuropsychology and Interplay of Genes and Environment. The course Juvenile Delinquency and Antisocial Development specifically discusses how the above factors play a role in the development of serious antisocial behavior. Attention is also paid to intervention programs. You are expected to have the following prior knowledge:knowledge of the manifestation of oppositional defiant disorder and defiant behavior disorder;general knowledge of the relationship with parents, for example attachment types, parent-child interactions and parenting styles;general knowledge of peer relationships, including: friendships, deviant friends, bullying and victimization, popularity and social preference as well as social status categories of children in a group (rejected, popular, excluded, controversial);general knowledge of biological psychology, including (epi)genetics; psychophysiology, including stress systems; and neuropsychology, including brain anatomy and executive functions.knowledge of longitudinal and cross-sectional research designs common in developmental psychologyDuring this course we use Canvas. There you will find, the course manual, important announcements, the guides for the working group meetings, as well as references to interesting additional information. Furthermore, PDF versions of the lecture slides are posted on Canvas after each lecture.