title: Life course turning points: the effect of grade retention on physical aggression.
abstract: Our objective is to advance the life course analytical framework by demonstrating a model for testing two of its tenets. The first is whether the individual's developmental history conditions the response to a turning point event. The second is whether the influence of a major life event upon an individual's developmental course depends upon the timing of the event. We test both propositions in an analysis of the effect of grade retention on a child's trajectory of physical aggression. Our analysis is based on data from a longitudinal study of 1,037 boysfrom schools in the lowest socioeconomic areas in Montreal, Canada. We find clear evidence that a developmental history of physical aggression conditions the child's response to grade retention. The evidence on whether the timing of retention affects this response is less clear.
authors.affiliation: Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA. dn03@andrew.cmu.edu
authors.forename: Daniel S
authors.initials: DS
authors.lastname: Nagin
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pagani
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Vitaro
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression; D002648:Child; D002657:Child Development; D004522:Educational Status; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008016:Life Change Events; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors