Therefore, overall, the majority of boys followed all or segments of the developmental sequences postulated in the pathways. Up to this point, researchers included all boys engaging in disruptive behavior without taking into account the possible persistence of such problem behavior. The researchers considered that their investigation of developmental pathways was possibly hampered by overinclusion of individuals who experimented with disruptive behavior for only a short time. Childhood and adolescence are periods during which trying out new things frequently includes behaviors not considered positive or prosocial. Experimentation is considered normal for these age groups, and many youth test the waters of shoplifting, lying, truancy, or annoying their peers.
Some youth undertake more serious transgressions.
Optimally, experimentation allows youth to discover the negative consequences of their behavior and learn from their mistakes. However, this is not the case for those youth who make the transition from experimenting to persisting in problem behaviors. In this study, persistence was defined as an endorsement, by either the boy or his primary caretaker, at more than one assessment of problem behavior within a stage of a given pathway. The researchers defined experimenters as those boys whose problem behavior within a given stage did not persist or recur at any subsequent assessment phase. To be categorized as either a persister or an experimenter, the subject had to fit one of the seven temporal sequences of at least one pathway.