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

OBJECTIVE: Within a Swedish longitudinal project, possible implications of childhood neglect and/or abuse on adult psychopathy checklist (PCL) scores and violent offending were studied. METHOD: 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. RESULTS: 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. CONCLUSION: The results point to possible underlying mechanisms linked to all three problems characterizing the affected subjects.