CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND BEHAVIOR, 201X, Vol. XX, No. X, Month 2019, 1–17. DOI: h t t p s : / / do i . o r g / 10.1177/0093854819897705 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions © 2019 International Association for Correctional and Forensic Psychology 1 CHILDHOOD RISK FACTORS FOR SELF- REPORTED VERSUS OFFICIAL LIFE-COURSE- PERSISTENT, ADOLESCENCE-LIMITED, AND LATE-ONSET OFFENDING GEORGIA ZARA University of Turin University of Cambridge DAVID P. FARRINGTON University of Cambridge There has been no prior research comparing risk factors for categories of convicted individuals (C-types: life-course-persis- tent; adolescence-limited; late-onset) compared with the corresponding categories of individuals who self-reported offending (SR-types). This article examines the extent to which these convicted and self-reported categories of individuals overlap, and explores childhood risk factors that predict categories of C-types and SR-types. Criminal career information about individu- als involved in the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD) is used; 25 childhood factors were analyzed. C-types and SR-types were more problematic than both official and SR nonoffenders. Life-course persisters, adolescence- limited offenders, and nonoffenders overlapped in official records and self-reports, but late-onset offenders did not. C-types were significantly similar to SR-types in childhood risk factors; only a few differences were found. The differences between C-types and SR-types might be better conceptualized as quantitative rather than qualitative. Implications for prevention and intervention are discussed. Keywords: criminal careers; convictions; self-reported offending; risk factors T he main aim of this article is to investigate childhood risk factors for different catego- ries of individuals who are involved in offending, based on either convictions or self- reported offending. The categories of individuals who are involved in offending are life-course persistent (LCP), adolescence-limited (AL), and late-onset (LO). A great deal is known about childhood risk factors for offending in general, but most of this knowledge is AUTHORS’ NOTE: For funding the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development (CSDD), the authors are very grateful to the Home Office, UK; the Department of Health, UK; the Department for Education, UK; the Rayne foundation, UK; the Barrow Cadbury Trust, UK; and the Smith-Richardson Foundation. For carrying out criminal record searches, they are very grateful to Gwen Gundry in the 1960s and 1970s, Lynda Morley in the 1980s, Sandra Lambert in the 1990s, Debbie Wilson in the 2000s, Owen Thomas in 2011–2012, and Lisa Robinson in 2017. They are also very grateful to the four anonymous reviewers for their critical and insightful feedback on an earlier version of this article. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Georgia Zara, Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge, Sidgwick Avenue, Cambridge CB3 9DA, UK; e-mail: georgia.zara@unito.it. 897705CJB XX X 10.1177/0093854819897705Criminal Justice and BehaviorZara, Farrington / Factors for Self-Reported and Official Offending research-article 2019