Risking antisociality : individual and social-interaction factors
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 orde...
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Zusammenfassung: | 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 |
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