Maya K. Krischer

Early traumatization and psychopathy in female and male juvenile offenders

Childhood traumatization is expected to have a significant impact on the development of antisocial and aggressive behavior in adulthood. Psychopathy as a syndrome that can predict future violent and aggressive behavior in adults is therefore believed to be associated with early traumatization. The association between early childhood victimization and violence might at least be mediated through psychopathy. The present study examined the relationship between early emotional, physical or sexual trauma and neglect and psychopathy in incarcerated delinquent female and male juveniles using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) and the Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL-YV). A sample of detained adolescents (n=185) was compared to adolescent students (n=98). Also, gender differences were analyzed with respect to the association of trauma and psychopathy. As expected, our analyses revealed higher scores of traumatization in delinquent juveniles compared to school adolescents. Hypothesized relationships between physical traumatization and the PCL-YV total score could be confirmed among criminal boys, but not among delinquent girls. Results, therefore, indicated that an association exists between early physical, but also emotional traumatic experience and psychopathy in detained boys. In girls, however, other family-related variables, such as non-parental living arrangements, seemed to be more influential in developing the psychopathy syndrome than traumatization.

Examining relations between psychopathology and psychopathy dimensions among adolescent female and male offenders.

AimThis study was performed to investigate relations between psychopathology and psychopathy in adolescent female and male detainees.MethodWe examined 91 male and 123 female adolescent detainees (aged 14–19) for psychopathology -using the Youth Self Report, the Overt Aggression Scale-Modified and a Conduct Disorder Self Report Scale- and for psychopathic dimensions using the psychopathy checklist youth version (PCL:YV). Based on a linear regression analysis we compared the specific associations between psychopathology and psychopathy in both male and female delinquent juveniles.ResultsOur results revealed higher scores for externalizing behavior and psychopathic dimensions in delinquent males, and higher internalizing problem scores in delinquent females. Furthermore, we found a positive relationship between suicidal behavior and the psychopathy total score as well as the affective, the lifestyle and the antisocial dimension only in girls. No association was found for suicidal behavior in boys. Regarding anxious-depressive behavior, we found a negative relation to the psychopathy total score and to the affective psychopathy factor for the boys.ConclusionExpectedly, the population of incarcerated adolescents exhibited a high prevalence of psychopathology. At the same time our results referred to meaningful gender-related differences with respect to associations with psychopathy. The gender-related differences in psychopathological symptoms could indicate varied subtypes of psychopathy in boys and girls.

Factor structure of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: youth version in German female and male detainees and community adolescents.

Substantial evidence exists for 3- and 4-factor models of psychopathy underlying patterns of covariation among the items of the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) in diverse adult samples. Although initial studies conducted with the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) indicated reasonable fit for these models in incarcerated male adolescents in the United States and the United Kingdom, only one published study has addressed the factor structure of PCL:YV psychopathy in female adolescents, and no prior studies have addressed it outside of these countries. We used confirmatory factor analysis to investigate the factor structure underlying PCL:YV scores in 314 incarcerated (143 male, 171 female) and 193 in-school (99 male, 94 female) adolescents, ages 14 to 19 years. The 2-factor model provided adequate fit only for incarcerated male adolescents and the 4-factor model was problematic in all samples, but the 3-factor solution provided an adequate model in incarcerated and community male adolescents. None of the models provided consistently acceptable fit among female adolescents. Current findings provide evidence for the robustness of the 3-factor model of psychopathy in incarcerated and community male adolescent samples but raise doubts about the applicability of this model to female adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved).

Factor Structure of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) in Adolescent Females.

Despite substantial evidence for the fit of the 3- and 4-factor models of Psychopathy Checklist-based ratings of psychopathy in adult males and adolescents, evidence is less consistent in adolescent females. However, prior studies used samples much smaller than recommended for examining model fit. To address this issue, we conducted a confirmatory factor analysis of 646 adolescent females to test the fit of the 3- and 4-factor models. We also investigated the fit of these models in more homogeneous subsets of the full sample to examine whether fit was invariant across geographical region and setting. Analyses indicated adequate fit for both models in the full sample and was generally acceptable for both models in North American and European subsamples and for participants in less restrictive (probation/detention/clinic) settings. However, in the incarcerated subsample, the 4-factor model achieved acceptable fit on only two of four indices. Although model fit was not invariant across continent or setting, invariance could be achieved in most cases by simply allowing factor loadings on a single Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003) item to vary across groups. In summary, in contrast to prior studies with small samples, current findings show that both the 3- and 4-factor models fit adequately in a large sample of adolescent females, and the factor loadings are largely similar for North American and European samples and for long-term incarcerated and shorter-term incarcerated/probation/clinic samples.

Infanticide in female forensic patients: the view from the evolutionary standpoint.

Evolutionary theory predicts that very young mothers would be more likely to kill an infant than older women, given that the younger mother has a much greater ability to “replace” the dead child through subsequent pregnancies and thus to produce offspring for the next generation. Evolutionary theory also predicts that a woman would be more likely to kill a child if the child was obviously defective, the pregnancy was the result of incest or rape, or if the mother’s means of supporting the child were severely compromised. The authors hypothesized that mentally ill mothers would behave in a way that differed significantly from evolutionary expectations, i.e., that they would be more likely to kill children who were older than those killed by mothers in the general population and that the mothers themselves would be likely to be older than mothers in the general population when the murders occurred. To test this hypothesis, the authors compared infanticides (both filicides and neonaticides) committed by mentally ill mothers with those committed by mothers in the general population. They examined two samples: 1) all cases of maternal infanticide from the Mid-Hudson Forensic Psychiatric Hospital from 1978 (when the hospital began admitting female patients) through the year 2000 and 2) a general population sample from a 10-year Canadian study reported by Daly and Wilson in 1998. The authors focused on the following variables: ages of the mothers, ages of the child-victims, whether the pregnancy was the result of rape or incest, whether the child had significant behavioral or physical problems, and whether there were problems supporting the child (e.g., having no partner, poverty, mother’s lack of education). The results of the analyses supported the authors’ hypothesis about ages of mothers and children. The mentally ill mothers in the Mid-Hudson sample were generally older when they killed their children and the children who were killed were generally older than in the Daly and Wilson general population sample (where the majority of the cases involved neonaticide and the mothers were generally younger than 25 years of age). The three factors, poverty, low education level (or low intellectual capacity), and lack of a spouse were common in both samples. Findings concerning cultural factors, motives, and methods used will be presented in separate publications.

Erfassung und Klassifikation von Persönlichkeitspathologie im Jugendalter Welchen Beitrag können aktuelle Forschungserkenntnisse zum Verständnis dieses Konstruktes leisten

OBJECTIVE The diagnosis and classification of personality disorders in adolescence remains a controversially discussed topic. METHOD This review reports recent research findings on the comorbidity and the diagnosis of personality disorders in adolescence and on their neurobiological and neuropsychological correlates. RESULTS On the one hand, the latest research findings refer to the implication that personality disorders in adolescence can be reliably diagnosed with the existing instruments used in the diagnosis of adults. On the other hand, researchers criticize the lack of a youth-specific concept of assessment, which could be used as a common foundation to study this clinically so relevant disorder. CONCLUSIONS Diagnostic as well as longitudinal studies within the scope of networks are required in order to differentiate personality disorders in adolescence from other youth-related disorders.

Persönlichkeitsstörungsmerkmale im Kindes- und Jugendalter: Konzepte, methodische Ansätze und empirische Ergebnisse

Zusammenfassung: Fragestellung: Die Frage des praktischen und theoretischen Gewinns durch die Diagnostik und Klassifikation von Personlichkeitsstorungsmerkmalen im Kindes- und Jugendalter ist immer noch eine kontrovers diskutierte Thematik, deren Erforschung insbesondere im deutschsprachigen Raum vernachlassigt wird. Methodik: In dieser Ubersichtsarbeit werden die vorliegenden Forschungsbefunde zur Frage der diagnostischen Validitat im Querschnitt und zur Frage der Stabilitat von Personlichkeitsstorungsmerkmalen vom Kindes-, Jugend- bis ins Erwachsenenalter detailliert dargelegt. Ergebnisse: Neuere Forschungsergebnisse verweisen einerseits auf die Validitat von Personlichkeitsstorungsdiagnosen im Jugendalter, andererseits auf die Stabilitat von Personlichkeitstraits im Entwicklungsverlauf. Allerdings steht der Nachweis der Kontinuitat von Personlichkeitsstorungsmerkmalen selbst zwischen dem Jugend- und Erwachsenenalter noch aus. Dimensionalen Ansatzen wird bei der Erfassung von Personlichkeitsstorungsmerk...

Attachment Representation in Mothers of Children with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

Attachment research so far rarely has focused on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This study is the first to examine the distribution of the attachment representation in mothers of children with ADHD. Considering results of clinical attachment studies we formulated the following hypothesis: the prevalence of maternal insecure and unresolved attachment representations increases with the degree of severity of children’s ADHD symptoms. Therefore it is highest in mothers of children with ADHD who are treated clinically (group A). It is expressed less strongly in mothers of children with ADHD symptoms without need for clinical treatment (group B). In a control group of mothers whose children have no ADHD diagnosis (group C), there is the lowest prevalence of insecure and disorganized attachment representations. Within a period of 6 months from a total of 72 recruited children and their mothers screened according to participation criteria (e.g. ICD-10: F90 Hyperkinetic disorders), 13 mothers could be assigned to group A, 19 mothers to group B, and 19 mothers to group C. The attachment representation was assessed using the Adult Attachment Projective. To test the sequence order hypothesis we used the Jonckheere-Terpstra test (u = 3.78; p < 0.001). The increasing clinical conspicuity in the groups obviously is connected to a reduced prevalence of the autonomous attachment representations as well as to an increase of the insecure and unresolved attachment representations of the mothers. We interpret this result with respect to the treatment of children with ADHD as a vote for considering the family context as well as early intervention strategies which aim at the improvement of the quality of maternal sensitivity.

Erfassung und Klassifikation von Persönlichkeitspathologie im Jugendalter

OBJECTIVE The diagnosis and classification of personality disorders in adolescence remains a controversially discussed topic. METHOD This review reports recent research findings on the comorbidity and the diagnosis of personality disorders in adolescence and on their neurobiological and neuropsychological correlates. RESULTS On the one hand, the latest research findings refer to the implication that personality disorders in adolescence can be reliably diagnosed with the existing instruments used in the diagnosis of adults. On the other hand, researchers criticize the lack of a youth-specific concept of assessment, which could be used as a common foundation to study this clinically so relevant disorder. CONCLUSIONS Diagnostic as well as longitudinal studies within the scope of networks are required in order to differentiate personality disorders in adolescence from other youth-related disorders.

Der Einfluss emotionaler Stimuli auf die Arbeitsgedächtnisleistung bei weiblichen delinquenten Jugendlichen

OBJECTIVE This paper focuses on the objective to what extent detained girls exhibit deficits with respect to spatial working memory. Moreover, this study investigates the influence of visual emotional stimuli on the working memory of antisocial female juveniles as well as the relationship between the number of errors in performing the different working memory tasks and psychopathy. METHODS A group of incarcerated female adolescents (n = 33) was compared with a group of non-delinquent students attending grades 10 and 11 of an integrated comprehensive school (n = 20). Three variants of the Subject-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT: neutral, erotic-, fear-related) and the Psychopathy-Checklist Youth Version (PCL:YV) were administered to the two groups. RESULTS Analyses of variance showed significant differences between the two groups regarding the neutral and the fear-related variants of the SOPT, but none regarding the erotic-related variant. Hypothesized associations between psychopathy and the neutral variant were affirmed, but not for the fear-related variant of the SOPT. CONCLUSIONS This study demonstrated similar deficits with respect to neutral working memory in detained female juveniles as have been affirmed for male antisocials within the literature. On the one hand, the expected levelling of the group difference regarding working memory accomplishment in the erotic variant could be explained by an improvement of the often sexually traumatized delinquent female adolescents, and on the other hand by impairment in the control group. The results with respect to working memory accomplishment on the basis of fear-related stimuli indicated that girls with high psychopathy scores differ from antisocial boys and might still react susceptible to emotional stimuli.Zusammenfassung: Fragestellung: Die vorliegende Studie widmet sich der Frage, inwiefern bei inhaftierten Madchen Defizite im Bereich des raumlichen Arbeitsgedachtnisses vorzufinden sind. Daruber hinaus wurde der Einfluss visueller emotionaler Stimuli auf das Arbeitsgedachtnis dissozialer weiblicher Jugendlicher untersucht sowie die Beziehung zwischen der Fehleranzahl in den verschiedenen Arbeitsgedachtnisvarianten und den Auspragungen der Psychopathy*Wegen der Abgrenzung von dem Psychopathie-Begriff Kurt Schneiders wird durchgangig der Begriff Psychopathy verwendet, der sich auf das Psychopathy-Konzept nach Robert Hare bezieht.. Methodik: Eine Gruppe inhaftierter weiblicher Jugendlicher (n = 33) wurde mit nichtdelinquenten Gesamtschulerinnen der Klassen 10 und 11 (n = 20) verglichen. Drei Varianten des Subject-Ordered Pointing Task (SOPT: neutral, Erotik, Schrecken) und die Psychopathy-Checkliste Youth Version (PCL:YV) wurden mit beiden Gruppen durchgefuhrt. Ergebnisse: Varianzanalysen erbrachten signifik...