Risking antisociality : individual and social-interaction factors

Abstract

Antisociality is a major problem in societies all over the world. Knowledge that can help to prevent or change antisociality is thus important. Problems of antisocial nature usually begin in childhood or early adolescence and it is therefore important to study it in the course of development in order to trace its underlying causes.

The overall aim of this thesis was to investigate individual and social-interaction factors that may contribute to the development of antisociality, i.e. psychopathy tendencies and juvenile delinquency. More specifically, early hyperactivity and later psychopathy tendencies were investigated by focussing on early relations with family and friends, adjustment ability and later personality traits. Juvenile delinquency was studied in terms of delinquent behaviour patterns and personality traits and associations between delinquency and school bonding.

The studies were based on data from two longitudinal projects: Young Lawbreakers as Adults and A short-term longitudinal project of adolescent problem behaviour: 1998-2000. The former was initiated in 1956 and included early delinquent boys and a matched control group, where 199 out of the original 287 boys were followed-up in the 1980 s. The latter project included all adolescents (n=1243) in 8th grade in a medium-sized community in Sweden and was initiated in 1998. At follow-up in 2000, 1007 adolescents took part in the project.

Our results indicated that there was a subgroup among hyperactive children with an elevated risk of developing psychopathy tendencies (Study II). More specifically, the hyperactive boys with subsequent psychopathy tendencies had more problems with friends andwere more aggressive in childhood than the boys with no subsequent psychopathy tendencies. Non-hyperactive boys with subsequent psychopathy tendencies experienced a poorer emotional home climate and had poorer adjustment abilities in childhood than non-hyperactive boys without subsequent psychopathy tendencies (Study I). We also found that hyperactive males with subsequent psychopathy tendencies exhibited more impulsivity than non-hyperactive males with subsequent psychopathy tendencies. Furthermore, our results indicated that it might be possible to assess psychopathy tendencies using personality questionnaires (Study II).

Our analyses of juvenile delinquency identified four replicable clusters over an 18 monthperiod, indicating that a subdivision into minor, serious and violent delinquency may be useful in future research into juvenile delinquency. Particularly boys characterised by seriousdelinquency exhibited high somatic anxiety, low psychic strength and high non-conformity. Girls characterised by serious delinquency exhibited high impulsivity and sensation seeking, high out-acting aggression and high non-conformity (Study III). In the analyses of delinquency and school bonding it was found that adolescent boys delinquency propensity was affected by all school bonding dimensions, implying that it is crucial for boys to experience school itself, school work, and teacher relations as fruitful and harmonious in order to stay on a prosocial developmental path. In terms of adolescent girls delinquency propensity, only their perceived relationship with their teachers was suggested to be of major significance (Study IV).

Finally, the findings suggest that it is beneficial to study antisocial individuals in smaller and more homogenous subgroups, as this can contribute to a deeper understanding of individual differences in antisociality.