Margaret Kerr

Two subtypes of psychopathic violent offenders that parallel primary and secondary variants.

Although psychopathy usually is treated as a unitary construct, a seminal theory posits that there are 2 variants: Primary psychopathy is underpinned by an inherited affective deficit, whereas secondary psychopathy reflects an acquired affective disturbance. The authors investigated whether psychopathy phenotypically may be disaggregated into such types in a sample of 367 prison inmates convicted of violent crimes. Model-based cluster analysis of the Revised Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003) and trait anxiety scores in the psychopathic subgroup (n = 123; PCL-R > or = 29) revealed 2 clusters. Relative to primary psychopaths, secondary psychopaths had greater trait anxiety, fewer psychopathic traits, and comparable levels of antisocial behavior. Across validation variables, secondary psychopaths manifested more borderline personality features, poorer interpersonal functioning (e.g., irritability, withdrawal, poor assertiveness), and more symptoms of major mental disorder than primary psychopaths. When compared with the nonpsychopathic subgroup (n = 243), the 2 psychopathic variants manifested a theoretically coherent pattern of differences. Implications for etiological research and violence prevention are discussed.

The usefulness of self-reported psychopathy-like traits in the study of antisocial behaviour among non-referred adolescents

The present study addresses the question of whether it is possible to use a self‐report measure of psychopathic traits on non‐referred youth samples to identify a subgroup of problematic youths who are particularly problematic and different from other problem youths. A large sample of eighth‐grade, non‐referred adolescents, and their parents were assessed. Results showed that the adolescents exhibiting a low‐socialized psychopathy‐like personality constellation had a more frequent, violent, and versatile conduct‐problem profile than other low‐socialized and well socialized adolescents. The psychopathy‐like adolescents also differed from other poorly socialized adolescents in ways that suggested that their etiological background was different from adolescents with non‐psychopathy‐like conduct problems. We conclude that self‐report measures can indeed be useful for research purposes in subtyping youths with conduct problems. Copyright

Perceived parenting style and adolescent adjustment : revisiting directions of effects and the role of parental knowledge

In the present research on parenting and adolescent behavior, there is much focus on reciprocal, bidirectional, and transactional processes, but parenting-style research still adheres to a unidirectional perspective in which parents affect youth behavior but are unaffected by it. In addition, many of the most cited parenting-style studies have used measures of parental behavioral control that are questionable because they include measures of parental knowledge. The goals of this study were to determine whether including knowledge items might have affected results of past studies and to test the unidirectional assumption. Data were from 978 adolescents participating in a longitudinal study. Parenting-style and adolescent adjustment measures at 2 time points were used, with a 2-year interval between time points. A variety of internal and external adjustment measures were used. Results showed that including knowledge items in measures of parental behavioral control elevated links between behavioral control and adjustment. Thus, the results and conclusions of many of the most highly cited studies are likely to have been stronger than if the measures had focused strictly on parental behavior. In addition, adolescent adjustment predicted changes in authoritative and neglectful parenting styles more robustly than these styles predicted changes in adolescent adjustment. Adolescent adjustment also predicted changes in authoritativeness more robustly than authoritativeness predicted changes in adjustment. Thus, parenting style cannot be seen as independent of the adolescent. In summary, both the theoretical premises of parenting-style research and the prior findings should be revisited.

What can parents do? : new insights into the role of parents in adolescent problem behavior

In recent years research on parenting has changed stance from one where parents shape child outcomes to an interactive perspective. However this shift is only now transferring to adolescents, with research exploring how the roles that adolescents and parents play in their interactions can lead to problem behaviour. Part of the Hot Topics in Developmental Research series, this book presents the new perspective.One of the primary tasks associated with childhood and adolescence is to shift from being regulated by others to self-regulation and self-control. Because adolescents in Western cultures tend to spend increasingly more time away from their parents (Larson et al., 1996), much attention has been given to how parents continue to regulate their adolescents when the adolescents are not supervised by adults. The majority of research investigating this topic has focused on parents’ attempts to monitor their adolescents’ whereabouts and activities. This body of research has been seriously flawed, however, assuming that parents’ monitoring provides them with information about adolescents’ whereabouts and activities. The use of invalid measures (e.g., measures of parental knowledge, rather than parents’ monitoring behaviors) and unidirectional assumptions (i.e., parent effects) led researchers to conclude prematurely that parents who monitor not only know what their adolescents are doing, but are then able to protect their adolescents from engagement in problematic activities. Recent research revealed these flaws, showing that parents’ knowledge of adolescents’ friends and activities is derived more from adolescents’ disclosure than from parents’ monitoring efforts (Kerr & Stattin, 2000; Stattin & Kerr, 2000). In response, researchers have taken an interest in understanding the processes by which parental knowledge is generated.

Does proximity matter? Distance dependence of adolescent friendships

Geographic proximity is a determinant factor of friendship. Friendship datasets that include detailed geographic information are scarce, and when this information is available, the dependence of friendship on distance is often modelled by pre-specified parametric functions or derived from theory without further empirical assessment. This paper aims to give a detailed representation of the association between distance and the likelihood of friendship existence and friendship dynamics, and how this is modified by a few basic social and individual factors. The data employed is a three-wave network of 336 adolescents living in a small Swedish town, for whom information has been collected on their household locations. The analysis is a three-step process that combines 1) nonparametric logistic regressions to unravel the overall functional form of the dependence of friendship on distance, without assuming it has a particular strength or shape; 2) parametric logistic regressions to construct suitable transformations of distance that can be employed in 3) stochastic models for longitudinal network data, to assess how distance, individual covariates, and network structure shape adolescent friendship dynamics. It was found that the log-odds of friendship existence and friendship dynamics decrease smoothly with the logarithm of distance. For adolescents in different schools the dependence is linear, and stronger than for adolescents in the same school. Living nearby accounts, in this dataset, for an aspect of friendship dynamics that is not explicitly modelled by network structure or by individual covariates. In particular, the estimated distance effect is not correlated with reciprocity or transitivity effects.

Bullying in School and Violence on the Streets: Are the Same People Involved?

Two ideas concerning the link between bullying in school and violence on the streets are investigated. (1) Bullying and victimization in school is a product of the school situation and peoples inability to choose their levels of exposure to others. According to this hypothesis, bullying is largely a phenomenon that is isolated to the school context. (II) Bullying behaviour in school and inflicting damage to others outside school is a reflection of a more general aggressive behaviour pattern and, hence, bullying in school and violence on the streets will, to a great extent, involve the same individuals. The literature offers suggestions that either could be the case. Participants were 2915 14-year-olds in a medium-sized county in Sweden who responded to a self-report questionnaire.Theresults showed that bullying others in school was strongly linked to violent behaviour and weapon-carrying on the streets, both among boys and girls. It was also found that bullying others in school was related to being violently victimized on the streets. The findings remained the same when statistically controlling for loitering and nights spent away from home, which were both related to bullying behaviour. It is concluded that bullying behaviour in school is in many cases a part of a more general violent and aggressive behaviour pattern and that preventive efforts targeting individuals with bullying behaviour in school could, according to the present study, decrease violence among adolescents out in the community as well.

Friend Influence over Adolescent Problem Behaviors as a Function of Relative Peer Acceptance: To be Liked is to be Emulated

Friend influence over alcohol intoxication and delinquent behavior was examined as a function of relative peer acceptance in a 3-year study of Swedish youth (N = 184 girls, 145 boys). Participants were in the first year of secondary school (7th grade, M = 11.7 years old) or the first year of high school (10th grade, M = 15.3 years old) at the outset. Friends resembled one another before the friendship; resemblances were even greater after the friendship began. Resemblances continued to grow among those who remained friends one year later, but declined among those whose friendships dissolved. Partners were not equally responsible for increases in similarity. In stable friendships, the more accepted partner exerted greater influence over the less accepted partner, such that the greatest increases in problem behaviors were found among less accepted youth whose friends had higher initial levels of delinquency and alcohol intoxication. Unstable friends resembled random pairs of youth in that more- and less-accepted partners were comparably uninfluential.

The Peer Relationships of Youths With Psychopathic Personality Traits A Matter of Perspective

Because a callous use of others in many short-term relationships is one criterion for diagnosing psychopathy in adults, one would expect adolescents who are high on psychopathic personality traits to have unstable, conflict-ridden peer relationships. Little is known about this, however, or about the peer activities of youths who are high in psychopathic traits. The authors examined relationship quality and delinquency with peers in a community sample of 12- to 15-year-old adolescents who were stably high or stably low on psychopathic traits during 4 years. Peers also provided data on relationship quality. Youths high on psychopathic traits often engaged in antisocial activities with their peers. Although they reported conflict in their peer relationships, their peers did not report low support or high conflict in those relationships. The authors conclude that youths with psychopathic traits have biased perspectives on interactions with close peers, and this might underlie future problems.Because a callous use of others in many short-term relationships is one criterion for diagnosing psychopathy in adults, one would expect adolescents who are high on psychopathic personality traits to have unstable, conflict-ridden peer relationships. Little is known about this, however, or about the peer activities of youths who are high in psychopathic traits. The authors examined relationship quality and delinquency with peers in a community sample of 12- to 15-year-old adolescents who were stably high or stably low on psychopathic traits during 4 years. Peers also provided data on relationship quality. Youths high on psychopathic traits often engaged in antisocial activities with their peers. Although they reported conflict in their peer relationships, their peers did not report low support or high conflict in those relationships. The authors conclude that youths with psychopathic traits have biased perspectives on interactions with close peers, and this might underlie future problems.

On the operationalization of psychopathy : further support for a three-faceted personality oriented model

Objective: This study is an attempt to compare two alternative models of psychopathy (PCL‐R); (i) the traditional 17‐item two‐factor model where the first factor describes a deceitful, manipulative and callous, unemotional dimension and the second factor describes the impulsive, irresponsible and antisocial behavioral lifestyle dimension; and (ii) a recently proposed 13‐item three‐factor model involving an interpersonal facet, an affective facet and a behavioral facet.

Co-occurrence of depressive moods and delinquency in early adolescence: The role of failure expectations, manipulativeness, and social contexts

This study examined the co-occurrence of depression and delinquency in early adolescents, focusing on longitudinal associations with failure expectations and manipulativeness, and on perceptions of relationships with parents, school and teachers, and peers. Data were used from 1,059 Swedish adolescents aged 13 to 15, who participated in 2 waves (T1–1998; T2–2000) of an ongoing longitudinal research. Results showed that depression and delinquency co-occurred in about 9% of respondents, and that depression and delinquency followed separate developments throughout early adolescence. Development of co-occurring depression and delinquency was positively linked to a later constellation of high failure expectations and manipulativeness across a 2-year period. Additionally, the development of combined failure expectations and manipulativeness was positively linked to a later co-occurrence of depression and delinquency across a 2-year period. Further, the cooccurrence of depression and delinquency was predicted by lower-quality relationships with parents and negative attitudes towards school and teachers, whereas a constellation of high failure expectations and manipulativeness was linked to earlier negative interactions with parents and feeling isolated from peers.