Psychopathic personality is associated with a myriad of social and behavioral problems including violence, criminal activity, and overall failure to conform to social standards. In this study, psychopathic and antisocial personality traits are measured in a sample of college students via self-report surveys using questions derived from Hare's Psychopathic Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; 1991). Reliability and factor analyses were used to validate the inventory and create factor-based indices that were used to predict antisocial behavioral outcomes including violence, seeking revenge on persecutors, and suicidal ideation, in addition to other analogous and deviant behaviors. Findings showed a relationship between personality and behavior indicating that characteristics of one's personality may aid in the prediction and prevention of deviant behaviors. Implications for public policy, including the identification of traits that may be related to the propensity for such behaviors, are reviewed in the context of school shootings such as the incident at Columbine High School.

abstract: Criminological theories have long incorporated personality traits as key explanatory factors and have generally relied on assumptions of trait stability. However, growing evidence from a variety of fields including criminology, psychology, and neurobiology is demonstrating that personality traits are malleable over the life-course, and substantial individual variation exists in the developmental patterns of personality traits over time. This research is forcing criminologists to consider how and why “enduring” individual characteristics may change over the life course in ways that are meaningfully related to offending. Two traits that have been consistently linked to offending and conflated in key criminological theories (i.e. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory), impulsivity and sensation seeking, have recently been shown to be independent personality traits with different normative maturational timetables and biological underpinnings. This dissertation extends this work by examining developmental patterns of impulsivity and sensation seeking and social sources of variation in these traits with the Family and Community Health Survey, a longitudinal data set that consists of approximately 900 African American youth and their families followed from late childhood to their late-twenties. Multiple longitudinal modeling methods are employed (hierarchical linear modeling and group-based trajectory modeling) to address this research agenda. Results from this dissertation lead to four broad conclusions. First, and in support of existing research, there is substantial variability in developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Average developmental trajectories of these traits greatly mask the degree of individual variability in developmental patterns that exists. Second, social factors are significantly associated with levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Socio-environmental experiences characterized by hostility and unsupportiveness are generally associated with elevated levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking while socio-environmental experiences characterized by warmth and supportiveness are associated with lower levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Third, sex differences in developmental patterns of impulsivity are nonexistent while sex differences in developmental patterns of sensation seeking are significant. Finally, with few exceptions, predictors of trait levels operate in a general fashion such the same factors typically explain both male and female trait levels and produce similar effects on impulsivity and sensation seeking. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Criminology and Criminal Justice 2019

This exploratory cross-sectional study examined the relationship between implicit family process rules and adolescent prosocial and antisocial communication behaviors. Data came from two-parent families in wave 5 of the Flourishing Families project which consisted of 322 families (fathers, mothers and children ages 13-17). Both observational and questionnaire data were used in data collection. Prosocial and antisocial behaviors were assessed using observational codes from the Iowa Family Interaction Rating Scales (Melby, et al., 1998). Each of the family members' perceptions were used to assess constraining family rules and facilitative family rules. Findings showed a direct positive relationship between facilitative family process rules and pro-social communication and a negative relationship with antisocial communication. Constraining family process rules were also positively related to antisocial communication behaviors in adolescents. Shame was a significant mediator of the relationship between facilitative family rules and prosocial behavior as well as between constraining family rules and antisocial behavior. Implications for family therapy practice are discussed.

There was a problem regarding students' antisocial behavior in a small rural school district in Washington State. Public data within the district indicated increasing incidents of students' antisocial behaviors. However, perceptions of school leaders regarding this problem were not known. As a result, there was a need to gain an understanding about school leaders' perceptions of students' antisocial behaviors in order to suggest potential solutions to reduce students' antisocial behaviors, as these perceptions are closely associated with their intent to address the problem. Bandura's theory of self-regulation provided the conceptual framework for collecting and analyzing data. Using an instrumental case study, the research questions explored school leaders' experiences in working with students who failed to manage their behavior and who exhibited antisocial behavior. Semi structured interviews were conducted with 13 school leaders in the district, and an iterative, inductive process of data collection, open coding, and thematic analysis was used. The themes that emerged from analysis of the data indicated a gap in the school leaders' practice regarding participation in ongoing, job-embedded professional development and an absence of a systematic school-wide positive behavior support approach to prevention and intervention. The findings indicated the need for professional development training to address these issues related to school leaders' practice. The suggested training could create positive social change by reducing students' antisocial behaviors, thus leading to an improvement in academic achievement. The recommended job-embedded professional development training resulting from exploring school leaders' perceptions can increase the capacity of the school leaders to manage students' antisocial behaviors.

Callous – unemotional (CU) traits are a key factor in understanding the persistence and severity of conduct problems. The factor structure of CU traits has been primarily examined through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) in childhood and adolescent samples, yet little research has examined the structure of CU traits in preschool. Further, current CFA models have yielded poor – to – marginally acceptable fit, suggesting the need for a more nuanced approach in understanding the structure of CU traits in early childhood using an interitem approach (i.e., network analysis). Within a sample of 109 preschool children (M age = 4.77, SD = 1.10), CFA results supported a two – factor structure of the ICU, comprised of “callous” and “uncaring” factors. Results of the network analysis identified seems cold and uncaring as most central to the CU network. Results from the CFA demonstrated that CU traits can be assessed in preschool children using 12 of the original 24 items from the ICU, which is consistent with a small portion of research. Further, results of the network analysis suggested that seems cold and uncaring may be useful in screening for psychopathic traits in preschool children. Clinical implications, including ICU measure refinement, are explored.

Psychopathy is not a diagnostic category, however theories of psychopathy have been discussed throughout psychological history. While the construct of psychopathy is associated with important psychological outcomes, there are inconsistencies in the literature with regard to correlates, etiology and treatment. These inconsistencies suggest that there may be several subtypes of psychopathy. This paper discusses the heterogeneity of psychopathy and considers the existence of psychopathic traits in nonclinical populations. Measures of etiology (Behavioral Activation System and Behavioral Inhibition System; Gray, 1985), psychopathy (Levenson's psychopathy measure; Levenson, Keihl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995) and anxiety (State Trait Anxiety Inventory; Speilberger, Gorsuch & Lushene, 1970) were used in Model based cluster analysis to investigate the existence of subtypes analogous to primary and secondary psychopathy in college students. Four clusters emerged with cluster profiles differing in theoretically coherent ways. Two of the clusters were representative of subclinical primary and secondary psychopathy and the other two represented non-psychopathic groups. Research (Buss, 1961, Dodge, 1991) regarding aggression discriminates between two types of aggression: instrumental and hostile. The current study considered whether the subjects in clusters created by psychopathy data differ in terms of the types of aggression used. As expected, the Psychopathic Traits groups used more aggression than the Non-psychopathic Traits groups, and the Primary Psychopathic Traits group used more instrumental aggression than the Secondary Psychopathic Traits group. Overall, these results support the existence of subclinical subtypes of psychopathy that resemble, in meaningful ways, hypothetical clinical variants. The results also suggest that subtyping may have clinical and forensic utility in risk assessment.

Callous and Unemotional (CU) traits are a relatively recent addition to the existing body of research examining the development of severe behavioural problems in children, and antisocial behaviour in adults. Children who are high in CU traits display shallow emotions, manipulate other children, lie easily, and demonstrate very little remorse or guilt. Additionally, they are more likely to engage in more severe forms of antisocial behaviour, more often, and from a younger age than their peers. Research has found that CU traits moderate the well-established relationship between parenting and conduct problems. That is, children who are high in CU traits seem to display levels of behaviour problems that are unrelated to the quality or type of parenting they receive. This has serious implications when one considers that the most effective psychosocial treatments available for behavioural disorders are based upon improving parenting, and would therefore require significant modification for children high in CU traits. In addition, the research exploring the moderating role of CU traits in the relationship between parenting and conduct problems has not taken a developmental perspective and considered different ages of children. Finally, existing research has not considered the reciprocal relationship that CU traits have upon parenting behaviour, or the direct relationship between parenting and CU traits. The present study has addressed these limitations by utilizing an accelerated longitudinal methodology. The present study recruited 449 grades one, three and five children from six public primary schools. Questionnaires assessing conduct problems, CU traits, and parenting styles were administered to their parents for completion. Additionally, teacher report was also sought on a number of key variables to ensure validity. One year later, all of these children and their families were re-approached to assess the extent to which each of these variables had changed over time. One year later 233 (51.89%) of the original sample completed the same measures allowing examination of the change in these variables over time. Given the relatively short time period, it was expected that one of the best predictors of any of the key variables at time 2, would be baseline scores measured at time 1. For this reason, hierarchical regression was used to control for temporal stability, as well as demographic factors. Additionally, the hypothesis that a different pattern of relationships would emerge for children of different ages was tested by examining the moderating effect of age upon all predictive relationships. This was done by entering the product of age and the predictor variable(s) as the final step of the regression analyses, and then conducting simple slopes analysis on all significant predictive interactions. Three distinct findings emerged from these analyses. Firstly, age moderates the effect of CU traits on the relationship between parenting styles and conduct problems. Behaviour problems in younger children are better predicted by parenting behaviours and by CU traits than in older children. Secondly, both CU traits and conduct problems were predictive of worsening parental behaviour. Once again, this was particularly evident in younger children. Finally, inconsistent parenting, and corporal punishment were found to be predictive of CU traits. These findings are discussed from a developmental perspective in the context of Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model.

Over the last decade there has been a substantial research effort directed toward understanding recidivism and risk prediction among adult sex offenders. In contrast, the juvenile sex offender field has received much less empirical attention. Consequently, there are very few risk assessment instruments designed for use with young persons who have committed sexual offences. Available measures do not appear to take into account the higher rates of non-sexual recidivism typical of this population. This thesis aimed to identify risk factors for sexual and non-sexual recidivism among juvenile sex offenders (JSOs) and explore their utility in the context of a risk assessment instrument. In Study One, a meta-analysis was conducted on JSO research to examine risk factors for sexual recidivism. The meta-analysis involved 17 studies and 22 predictor constructs. Seven variables emerged as reliable predictors of sexual recidivism: an index sexual offence involving a stranger victim, a history of physical abuse in the offender's background, the presence of sexual deviance, a non-contact index sexual offence, sexually offending against a greater number of victims, a history of sexual offending, and a history of non-sexual offending. In Study Two, a meta-analysis was performed on JSO research to identify risk factors for non-sexual recidivism. The meta-analysis involved 14 studies and 19 predictor constructs. Six variables emerged as reliable predictors of non-sexual recidivism: a history of non-sexual offending, a history of sexual abuse (negative relationship), the presence of an antisocial orientation, an index sexual offence involving a child victim (negative relationship), a history of physical abuse in the offender's background, and the use of threats/force in the index sexual offence. Taken together, the two meta-analyses were able to identify risk factors specific to sexual recidivism (e.g., sexual deviance) and non-sexual recidivism (e.g., antisocial orientation) as well as risk factors common to both outcomes (e.g., a history of non-sexual offending). These studies therefore made an original and significant contribution to the understanding of recidivism among JSOs. Based upon the meta-analyses, Study Three involved the construction of a risk assessment checklist that could be easily scored from file information. The Juvenile Risk Assessment Checklist (J-RAC) contained 11 items based upon the most consistent operationalisations of the predictors that emerged from the meta-analyses. The J-RAC is unique in the JSO risk assessment field as it contains two scales designed to provide separate estimates of the risk of youth engaging in further sexual and non-sexual recidivism, respectively. The J-RAC was scored based on file information from 82 youth who had been found guilty of sexual offences and referred to a treatment service in Queensland, Australia. The majority of the items possessed good inter-rater reliabilities and the two scales both possessed high inter-rater reliabilities. An existing JSO risk assessment instrument, the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol Version 2 (J-SOAP-II; Prentky & Righthand, 2003), was also administered and the J-RAC possessed significant correlations with the majority of the J-SOAP-II scales. The J-RAC was also found to significantly discriminate between juveniles in detention and juveniles in the community, with those in detention found to be at higher risk on both scales. Thus, the reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity of the J-RAC was established. Consistent with current adult sex offender recidivism theory, the findings demonstrated the distinct roles of sexual deviance and antisocial orientation in the prediction of sexual and non-sexual recidivism of JSOs, respectively. The current thesis goes some way towards advancing a theory of juvenile sex offender recidivism by drawing upon the variables that emerged as reliable risk factors in the two meta-analyses. While the J-RAC could not yet be considered an actuarial instrument capable of assigning low, medium and high risk levels, the results of the research conducted in this thesis are encouraging. The utility of the J-RAC may be further enhanced through the aid of prospective research that incorporates substantial numbers of juvenile recidivists.

<p>Ett stort antal barn är idag placerade i fosterfamilj. Flertalet av dessa barn uppvisar ett asocialt beteende med dåliga sociala relationer. Multidimension Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) är ett program vars mål är att förändra barnets attityd. Det är en öppen vårdinsats där barnet placeras i en utbildad fosterfamilj. En kvalitativ studie genomfördes baserat på nio intervjuer. Syftet var att utifrån ett utvecklingsekologiskt systemperspektiv undersöka hur MTFC- familjer och biologiska familjer upplever effekten av behandlingen. Resultat visar att biologiska/fosterföräldrar upplevde programmet som ständigt närvarande med tydliga roller. Samtliga familjer bekräftar att programmet har positiva effekter på barnet beteende. Programmet upplevdes erbjuda fosterföräldrar en yrkesmässig relation till barnet och biologiska föräldrar en möjlighet att utveckla ett ökat självförtroende som förälder.</p>

Ett stort antal barn är idag placerade i fosterfamilj. Flertalet av dessa barn uppvisar ett asocialt beteende med dåliga sociala relationer. Multidimension Treatment Foster Care (MTFC) är ett program vars mål är att förändra barnets attityd. Det är en öppen vårdinsats där barnet placeras i en utbildad fosterfamilj. En kvalitativ studie genomfördes baserat på nio intervjuer. Syftet var att utifrån ett utvecklingsekologiskt systemperspektiv undersöka hur MTFC- familjer och biologiska familjer upplever effekten av behandlingen. Resultat visar att biologiska/fosterföräldrar upplevde programmet som ständigt närvarande med tydliga roller. Samtliga familjer bekräftar att programmet har positiva effekter på barnet beteende. Programmet upplevdes erbjuda fosterföräldrar en yrkesmässig relation till barnet och biologiska föräldrar en möjlighet att utveckla ett ökat självförtroende som förälder.