Early studies examining the continuity of aggression focused primarily on males. Olweus [1979] reviewed 16 studies with lags ranging from 6 months to 21 years and reported strong evidence for the continuity of aggression. Olweus obtained disattenuated stability coefficients ranging from .98 for his own study of 85 13-year-olds in Sweden over a 1-year lag to .36 for Kagan and Moss’s [1962] study of 35 5-year-olds, who were followed for 18 years. Olweus found that these stability coefficients for the same length lag were higher for older than younger boys, that the coefficients generally decreased linearly as the interval covered increased, and that the stability coefficients were similar for studies using different methods for measuring aggression (e.g., observation vs. teacher rating). Loeber and Dishion [1983] reviewed the literature on childhood problem behavior as a predictor of later delinquency and found that childhood problem behavior in males was the second best predictor of both delinquency and recidivism. Additionally, some landmark studies not included in these reviews found similar results. For example, Ensminger et al. [1983] found that among first-grade children growing
