Adult psychopathy and violent behavior in males with early neglect and abuse

Within a Swedish longitudinal project, possible implications of childhood neglect and/or abuse on adult psychopathy checklist (PCL) scores and violent offending were studied.

The subjects were males (n=199), recruited from a socially high-risk neighborhood and grouped on an index variable of victimization, yielding high (n=110) and low victimization (n=89) groups. To highlight a possible comorbidity of all three problems in the same persons, a combined dimensional and categorical (configural frequency analysis, CFA) approach was applied.

The high victimization subjects exerted significantly more violence, as did subjects with high PCL scores. Furthermore, in the CFA two significant 'types' were found: one type indicating that 'high' victimization in childhood is closely linked to later 'extensive' violence and 'high' PCL scores at adult age in the same individuals; the other supporting a frequent co-occurring of 'low' victimization in childhood, 'none or minor' later indications of violence and 'low' adult PCL scores.

The results point to possible underlying mechanisms linked to all three problems characterizing the affected subjects.