NCJ Number
243870
Journal
Journal of Criminal Justice Volume: 41 Issue: 5 Dated: September - October 2013 Pages: 331-341
Date Published
October 2013
Length
11 pages
Annotation
Few studies have focused on the relationship between conflictive/negative parent-child relationships and child and adolescent psychopathic tendencies (lack of feelings of remorse, empathy, guilt, responsibility, fear of punishment, and regulation of emotions); the current study fills this gap by examining the relationship between negative parental affect toward the child and the child's psychopathic personality in a sample of twins studied from pre- to middle adolescence.
Abstract
The study found that for both caregiver and youth self-reports at both measured time points (9-10 years old and 14-15 years old); approximately half of the variance in psychopathic personality was explained by genetic factors, with the majority of the remaining variance being explained by non-shared environmental influences. This agrees with previous twin studies that examined psychopathic personality in childhood. The results of the current study also show a significant genetic overlap between negative parent-to-child affect and psychopathic personality at ages 9-10 years old. Significant genetic overlap was also found between negative parent-to-child affect and psychopathic personality at ages 14-15 years old. In order to better understand the underlying relationship between negative parenting style and the development of psychopathic personality throughout the course of adolescence, genetic and environmental interactions between negative parenting and psychopathic personality must be further explored. The study used a longitudinal study of twins, with data collected from both caregiver and youth self -reports at two waves of assessment. These longitudinal data were used to examine the relationship between parenting style and psychopathic personality in children. A biometric cross-lagged model was used. 5 tables, 1 figure, and 45 references