Psychopathic personality traits in community adolescents : relationships among coping, attachment, and violent behaviour

Although there are relatively few studies of psychopathy among children and youth, data suggest that callous and unemotional personality traits (a defining characteristic of psychopathy) are risk factors for violent behaviour. There are also indications in the literature that psychopathic traits are related to a negative family environment, specifically the child's insecure (avoidant/dismissing) attachment to his/her caregiver. Such insecure attachment can result in maladaptive coping mechanisms, which in turn have been associated with delinquent behaviour. As delinquency (specifically violent behaviour) seems to be a growing social problem, and psychopathy is an important risk factor for violent behaviour, it is important to investigate how psychopathy develops. Identifying possible resilience factors to the development of psychopathy may be useful in developing effective prevention and treatment programs. This study investigated the relation among psychopathic personality traits, attachment to caregivers, coping style, and self-reported violent behaviour in 244 grade 8, 10, and 12 students. Results indicated that insecure attachment predicted psychopathic personality traits, and that individuals who exhibited both "Angry Distress" attachment towards caregivers and some psychopathic personality traits demonstrated an Avoidance coping style. Results also indicated that psychopathic traits, when combined with Avoidance coping, predicted violent behaviour better than psychopathic traits alone. Furthermore, there was some indication that secure attachment to caregivers acted as a protective factor against violent behaviour for those individuals high in psychopathic traits. Implications for future research, treatment, and prevention programs were discussed.