When someone thinks of child abuse they think of the physical and sexual abuse that can happen, but what most people do not think of is the emotional and psychological abuse that happens. Just because emotional abuse is not seen as readily as physical abuse does not mean that it does not happen. Physical pain can go away but emotional hurt may never go away.
During the research for this paper it was expected to find the effects of severe emotional abuse and what is currently being done about it. Although, this was not the case, the majority of studies were on the effect of sexual or physical abuse. Though, there were studies done that included emotional abuse in relation to physical abuse. These articles are the bulk of what is used for this paper. Physical and sexual abuse can severely harm a child but emotional scars from emotional and psychological abuse will last a life time long after physical scars are healed.
Definitions
Emotional Abuse
Emotional abuse is the intentional use of words or actions that causes harm that impedes the psychological development of a child (Junewicz, 1983). In other words, it is intentionally insulting or verbally mistreating the child with the intention of harming the child's self esteem. An example of such abuse would when a mother and a daughter are talking with a neighbor and the neighbor is going on about her daughter and how helpful she is. When the neighbor leaves the mother turns to her daughter and says, “I wished I could have said something like that about you.” This was intentionally said to make the child to feel like she was unhelpful and a “bad” child.
Emotional Neglect
On the other hand, emotional neglect is the unresponsiveness of parents to their child's psychological needs (Junewicz, 1983). It can also be the result of the parental unconcern or lack of knowledge of abuse that the child is suffering. Neglect may not be the intentional overlooking of the child's needs, but the inability to recognize the necessary needs of the child.
Effects of Emotional Abuse and Neglect
Effects in Childhood
The effects of emotional abuse in childhood can range from academic problems to psychological problems. Junewicz (1983) found that 16 children from 11 families, who abused drugs and alcohol, were abused or neglected. Most of the problems that were reported of these children came from school officials. The problems that were reported were that the children would often come to school tired, inappropriately dressed, and that they day dreamed. Also, it was reported that these children had trouble keeping up with school work and keeping age-appropriate relationships. Junewicz also found psychological problems in children who had suffered abuse. Eighteen children from a group of 9 families, where all the children were emotionally abused, reported that the children exhibited emotionally disturbed behaviors. The behaviors that were reported were depressive episodes, suicide attempts, and psychotic episodes.
Children were also found to be unhappy, especially frightened, distressed or anxious, and exhibit low self-esteems (Glaser, 2002). Glaser also reported that children were also found to exhibit antisocial behaviors, specifically aggression, oppositional, attention seeking, and withdrawn. It was also reported that children who experienced early emotional neglect were more likely to have attachment problems. It was shown that at 12 months children were securely attached to their mothers but by 18 months they began to show to have an anxious attachment (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). Hildyard and Wolfe also found that children suffering from neglect often see themselves as unworthy to love and others would just reject them. In fact, neglected children tended to hold more negative self-representations.
Early social development (infant to preschool aged children) was also found to have been harmed (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). It was found that between 3 and 6 months of age the rate of feeding and playing decreased. Also, preschool aged children were found to be more isolated during play with their siblings and more withdrawn when they were with their mothers. It was also found that children's emotional development is also impaired due to emotional neglect. This article continued on to say that neglected and abused children showed low self-esteems. What was interesting was that these children did not show a sense of humor. Children continue to show impairment in their cognitive, social and emotional development. They have more academic problems and they continue to tend to be more socially withdrawn (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002).
Effects in Adulthood
Adults who were abused or neglected as children are more likely to engage in adult criminal behavior or violent behavior. Also, there seems to be a link between childhood neglect, and abuse and adult diagnoses of a personality disorder (Hildyard & Wolfe, 2002). Bifulco, Moran, Baines, Bunn, and Stanford (2002) studied the prevalence of adult mental disorders from those who were abused and neglected as children. They hypothesized that the more severe childhood trauma that was experienced would increase the likelihood of depression or suicidality. Their study consisted of 204 women who were selected from a questionnaire and were then interviewed intensively of their childhood experiences and mental disorder. An interview of their childhood included different experiences including psychological abuse. They assessed clinical depression and used the criteria of the DSM-III for major depression. They also included suicidal plans and acts in the assessment of depression. It was found that nearly all of the forms of childhood abuse were significantly related to adult depression.
Mazzeo and Espelage (2002) studied the association of childhood abuse and eating disorders in undergraduate women. It was reported that the rate of eating disorders was significantly higher in those who reported emotional or physical abuse. It was also reported that women who currently have an eating disorder were more likely to report having experienced a childhood abuse. Mazzeo and Espelage also mentioned that there seems to be a correlation between depressive symptoms and eating disorders. Although the association of depression and eating disorders occur with a history of childhood abuse or neglect, it should still be acknowledged that both those who suffered abuse in childhood and those who currently have an eating disorder both suffer from depression.
Protective Measures for Children
Often the families who emotionally abuse or neglect their children do not become known to protection agencies. Junewicz (1983) mentioned at the end of his article the imperativeness of providing help and protection to children who have been recognized as being emotionally abused or neglected. It is imperative to get help, not only for the children involved, but also for all of the members of the family. Junewicz gave suggestions to what should be done for the families: keep notes on the observations, reach out to child to see if they experience distress, contact the parents to try to make them what is happening, and, if necessary, contact protective services.
Another article studied possible interventions for parents who are at risk for becoming abusive parents. In this study, they assigned graduate students in developmental and clinical child psychology as the therapists for parent training. The parent training provided modeling and rehearsal to increase and improve the parent's frequency and quality of social rewards. This was also used to try to decrease the use verbal behavior, such as criticism. Through a questionnaire that distributed after the parent training the parents reported that it had helped them to be better parents (Wolfe, Edwards, Manion, & Koverola, 1988).
Conclusion
The majority of articles on abuse and neglect of children were on sexual or physical abuse. The few studies that had mentioned emotional abuse mentioned it along side physical abuse. Although, Glaser (2002) mentioned that emotional abuse can and does happen by itself. As it was in the case of my family, my mom was never physically abused but she was abused but it was never discovered. The study of emotional abuse and neglect is not studied thoroughly enough. Glaser also mentioned some reasons for the lack of intervention, which in part, could be the difficulty of defining emotional abuse. Another difficulty is that often emotional abuse does not cause physical harm. Few cases of emotional abuse are ever recognized or intervened and could cause just as harmful as physical abuse.
References
Bifulco, A., Moran, P.M., Baines, R., Bunn, A., & Stanford, K. (2002). Exploring psychological abuse in childhood: II. Associations with other abuse and adult clinical depression. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 66, 241-258.
Glaser, D. (2002). Emotional abuse and neglect (psychological maltreatment): a conceptual framework. Child Abuse and Neglect, 26, 697-714.
Hildyard, K. L., & Wolfe, D. A. (2002). Child neglect: developmental issues and outcomes. Child Abuse and Neglect, 26, 679-695.
Junewicz, W. J. (1983). A protective posture toward emotional neglect and abuse. Child Welfare, 62, 243-252.
Mazzeo, S. E., & Espelage, D. L. (2002). Association between childhood physical and emotional abuse and disordered eating behaviors in female undergraduates: An investigation of the mediating role of Alexithymia and Depression. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 49, 86-100.
Wolfe, D. A., Edwards, B., Manion, I., & Koverola, C. (1988). Early intervention for parents at risk of child abuse and neglect: A preliminary investigation. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 40-47.
Relationship Between Violence in Adolescents and Adult Psychopathy
Contrary to popular belief, Psychopathy and Antisocial Personality Disorder ( ASPD) is not essentially the same disorder. While most psychopaths may fit the criteria for ASPD not all antisocial personalities are psychopaths. ASPD is a mental disorder which can be found the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). What sets ASPD apart is that it relies mostly on observable criminal behavior, while psychopathy is a construct which looks at internal qualities of a person. Unlike ASPD, psychopathy is not considered to be an official diagnosis and, by some, is just considered to be the same as ASPD. Although, psychopathy has been known through out history and is now supported by a wide range of research which supports it as separate and distinct from ASPD.
Even though psychopathy is not a DSM diagnosis, there are tests to determine if a person would be considered psychopathic. One of these tests is the Psychopathy Check List (PCL-R, Hare, 1991) and it is based on 20 questions which is scored 0, 1, or 2. The higher the score is there is more of a chance that the person may exhibit psychopathic traits. Generally, a person would be “diagnosed” with a score of 30 or higher. The questions that are asked centers around internal qualities such as superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth, manipulative, and lack of remorse. Most of these questions center around internal rather than external qualities of a person which can make it hard to come to a “diagnosis.” Although a lot of the questions focus on internal qualities, some focus on antisocial behaviors. Some of the behavioral questions focus on antisocial behaviors which started in adolescents. These questions on the offender's adolescent years focus on behavior such as juvenile delinquency, and early behavior problems.
Some of the symptoms of both ASPD and psychopathy are early behavioral problems and often before the age of 15. In order for someone to be diagnosed with ASPD they must have also shown signs of Conduct Disorder (CD) before 15. For a diagnosis of CD there must have been aggression towards people or animals, deceitfulness, serious violation of rules, and destruction of property. Aggression towards people can be with or with out a weapon or physical force such as bullying another child. With juvenile delinquency as part of the diagnosis for both ASPD and psychopathy, there is a relationship between aggressiveness and violence in adolescents and adult diagnosis of psychopathy.
Aggressiveness and Violence in Adolescents
Types of Aggression and Violence in Adolescents
Aggression and violence in adolescents is becoming more of a serious social concern as we learn more on how it impacts others. Aggression in the form of bullying has been around through out history though it has only recently came to light as a social concern. An article on the American Psychological Association website “School Bullying is Nothing New, But Psychologists Identify New Ways to Prevent it” stated a study which found that during the school year 16% reported being bullied, 19% reported having bullied others, and 6% reported having bullied others and have been the victim (http://www.apa.org/research/action/bullying.aspx). Bullying can come in several forms which includes spreading rumors to hitting another person. Some of the acts which can be defined as bullying are also very similar to some of the symptoms of psychopathy. These would be intimidating others to get others to do things for you to the actual physical violence of hitting and punching another child. Another part of physical bullying that is common is the theft of a possession of another child. This is generally characterized in the media as a kid stealing lunch money from a younger child.
Bullying is just one type of aggression and violence which is exhibited by adolescents but teens have also been involved in other types of aggression. Some of the other forms of violence among adolescents is theft with confrontation which can be one of the symptoms of CD. Some have gone so far as to physically harm another person or animal. While rare, some have killed or attempted to kill another person. Though, some forms of bullying can show what some children and adolescents are capable of with violence. The types of aggression seems to be mainly divided between two main groups: reactive and instrumental aggression. Reactive aggression is mostly aggression in response to a situation while instrumental is to come to a specific goal.
Characteristics of Adolescent Aggression and Violence
Children with CD, especially those who developed it early on, is at risk for developing ASPD later in their adult life. Lynam stated in his article “Early Identification of Chronic Offender: Who is the Fledgling Psychopath” that men and women who exhibited conduct problems in late childhood were found to be more likely to have antisocial behaviors later in life. Men were especially acceptable to commit violent criminal acts, become abusive to their spouse, and drive while intoxicated (Lynam, 1996). Another study found that adolescents who were violent predicted continued antisocial behavior later into adulthood (Gretton, Hare, Catchpole 2004). It seems that we can possibly predict, to some extent, how likely the violent and aggressive adolescent will continue with their antisocial behaviors.
The article from the APA also gave the characteristics of bullies in school and most seem to correlate with similar characteristics of psychopathy in adults. The characteristics of bullies are: need to dominate others, impulssivity, and show little empathy toward their victims (http://www.apa.org/research/action/bullying.aspx). This seems to correlate with the psychopathic characteristics of a poor life plan and a lack of remorse or guilt. Lochman (1984) emphasized, to an extent some of these characteristics, which were also characteristics of a type of aggressiveness. The pervasive instrumental type, he mentioned, had a stronger need to dominate and control others. Not only do these adolescents want control but they are also more likely to be less able to be empathetic or to understand another's perspectives. These are the same type of characteristics which are found in bullying and psychopathy.
Psychopathy and Adolescent Aggression
Conduct Disorder and Psychopathy
Adolescents in general tend to have a higher tendency towards aggression and violence than any other age range. Because adolescents are going through puberty it is generally considered normal to have some deviant behavior. In fact nearly half of adolescent will admit to theft and over half will admit to having engaged in more than one type of antisocial behavior (Lynam, 1996). It is when the deviant behavior is consistently extreme which makes it possible for a diagnosis to be given. Because there is some normative antisocial behavior in adolescents, a diagnosis of either ASPD or psychopathy in adolescents is a controversial issue among clinicians. This is one reason why most often children and adolescents would be first diagnosed as having CD.
Through out it's course, the diagnosis CD went from four different types to two types where 3 out of 15 symptoms has to exist with the last year. The two types are based on the age of onset of the disorder which are characterized as early or late starters. As the diagnosis of ASPD do not include internal qualities, the diagnosis of CD does not include these qualities either. Burke, Loeber, and Lahey (2007) argues that since CD is a precursor to adult psychopathology its criteria is missing these key components in their diagnosis. They also argue that the course for those who will advance from CD to ASPD from those who will not are not clearly defined. Because of these limitations in diagnosis, they argue that consideration of internal qualities such as callousness is also a predictor to adult psychopathy. In their research they found a significant correlation between interpersonal callousness and psychopathy scores in young adulthood.
Although psychopathy is not the same as ASPD, it seems that a lot of Abnormal Psychology textbooks and classes refer to psychopathy as ASPD. Research have also shown that some children who are diagnosed as having CD are also diagnosed with ASPD in adulthood (Burke, Loeber, & Lahey, 2007). Lynam (1996) discussed research on the participants who were antisocial in adolescents went on to be diagnosed with of psychopathy as adults. As there is no official diagnosis of psychopathy, it seems reasonable to assume they are speaking of a diagnosis of ASPD. Lynam goes on to say that in order to find who will adult psychopaths we need to look at the antisocial adolescents. He especially noted that in half of the cases of those who experienced severe conduct problems went on to be antisocial adults.
Hyperactivity and Psychochopathy
Hyperactivity in children can come out in several different ways but mostly people think of a child who can't sit still and wait their turn. This can seem like an impulse control issue which is one of the symptoms of psychopathy in adults. Freidenfelt and Klinteburg (2007) studied the relationship between hyperactivity in children and psychopathy in adulthood. They noted that hyperactivity can be a predictor for later psychopathology, specifically psychopathy, in adults. They did a study of 287 boys between 11 and 14 years who they devided between an early criminals group and a comparison group. They did a fellow up session when the boys were then in their 30s, and they tested 199 of them, where 133 were in the early criminals group. They administered the PCL-R to the subjects at the follow up session. The results was that those who were hyperactive as children received a high score on the test. They also found that those who scored high on the PCL-R were also highly impulsive and sensation seeking.
Psychopathy in Adolescents and Adults
As mentioned earlier, psychopathy in adolescents is right now a very controversial among the experts. Because this is still a controversial issue, there is not much known of psychopathy in adolescents. The construct of psychopathy in adolescents arose among professionals who realized that an overestimate of conduct problems may arise on relying on behavioral diagnosis (Gretton, Hare, & Catchpole, 2004). Also, there seemed to be a realization that external behavioral issues is not the only issues to be taken in consideration. Secondly, the construct of adolescent psychopathy came about to differentiate adolescence who could become psychopathic from those whose deviant behavior would discipate over time (Lynam, Caspi, Moffitt, Loeber, & Stouthamer-Loeber). Gretton, Hare, and Catchpole (2004) believes that aggression and violence in adolescent forensic samples can be predicted by adolescent psychopathy. They also found through their study that there seems to be a stability in violent behavior over several years.
Although there seems to be some evidence to point to that adolescent psychopathy develops into adult psychopathy, there does not seem to be strong evidence. There is only slight evidence that psychopathy scores predicts violent recidivism. Although, there was a study which studied psychopathy scores in adolescents then in adults. In this study they found that psychopathy scores at 13 years old was weakly correlated with psychopathy scores as an adult. They also found that 9% was identified as possibly psychopathic as a young adult. As did the last study shown with violence, this study had shown that psychopathy scores are relatively stable over several years (Lynam et al). Both of these studies gives us greater understanding of how prevalent, not only adult psychopathy, but adolescent as well. Because antisocial behaviors is common among adolescents, it is important to understand psychopathy as it relate to adolescents.
Violence and Psychopathy
Violence, especially among adolescents, seem to be common place especially in relation to the media where there is almost always some form of violence. Also with the media, they make it seem almost fun in their video games to kill or rape another person. The more violent the game is the better a child or adolescent will enjoy the game. Our society in general is not alone in the fascination of violence. Psychopaths are generally violent toward others whether that violence is physical or verbal. Fritz, Wiklund, Koposov, Klinteburg, and Ruchkin (2008) discussed three possible links between psychopathy and violence. The first was that psychopaths perceives violence as normal and to see aggressive acts as rewarding. A second link that was discussed was related to the psychopath's narcissistic traits which was also linked to childhood psychopathy. Finally, a third link seems to be behavioral based on the psychopath's tendency toward impulsivity. Their study focused on the three links influence on a person's violent behaviors. Through their study, they found that the more violent groups also had higher psychopathic traits. They were also associated with higher levels of physical aggression and had a perception of antisocial behavior as being normal.
Conclusion
Even though violence and aggression is, to a point, normative among adolescents there seems to be a link between the extremely violent adolescents and adult diagnosis of psychopathy. Studies have shown that violence among adolescents tend to remain stable over several years and into adulthood. Psychopathy also has several similar traits to one of the most severe social issues, bullying. Both bullying and psychopathy seem to share the common trait of wanting control over another and using intimidation to control others. Both CD and hyperactivity also both share common links to psychopathy. Both CD and psychopathy share the traits of serious violence of rules, disregard of others, and aggression towards people or animals. Hyperactivity and psychopathy both seem to share a seemingly inability for impulse control.
Violence seems to be a fact of everyday life especially for a psychopath who is often times verbally violent if they are not also physically violent. Violence also seems to be part of day to day life for an adolescent though the severity is what separates an average adolescent from the psychopathic adolescent. There does not seem to be any therapy or punishment which affects the adult psychopath and it also does not seem to work one an adolescent reaches a certain age. Perhaps by understanding how severe violence in adolescents is related to psychopathy in adulthood there could be advances made lessening these symptoms if caught early enough in adolescents.
References
American Psychological Association. (2004). School bullying is nothing new, but psychologists identify new ways to prevent it. Retrieved April 7, 2010. http://www.apa.org/research/action/bullying.aspx.
American Psychiatric Association (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington D.C. Author.
Burk, J.D., Loeber, R., & Lahey, B. B. (2007). Adolescent conduct disorder and interpersonal callousness as predictors of psychopathy in young adults. Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 36, 334-346.
Fritz, M. V., Wiklund, G., Koposov, R. A., Klinteberg, B., & Ruchkin, V. V. (2008). Psychopathy and violence in juvenile delinquents: What are the associated factors? International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 272-279.
Freidenfelt, J., & Klinteberg, B. (2007). Exploring adult personality and psychopathy tendencies in former childhood hyperactive delinquent males. Journal of Individual Differences, 28, 27-36.
Gretton, H. M., Hare, R. D., & Catchpole, R. E. H. (2004). Psychopathy and offending from adolescence to adulthood: A 10-Year follow-up. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 72, 636-645.
Hare, R. (1991). Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised: 2nd Edition. Retrieved from Tests in Print database.
Lochman, J.E. (1984). Psychological characteristics and assessment of aggressive adolescents. C. R. Kieth (ed) The Aggressive Adolescent: Clinical Perspectives (pp.17-62). New York: The Free Press.
Lynam, D.R. (1996). Early identification of chronic offenders: who is the fledgling psychopath? Psychological Bulletin, 120, 209-234.
Lynam, D.R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Loeber R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2007). Longitudinal evidence that psychopathy scores in early adolescence predict adult psychopathy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 116, 155-165.
Even though psychopathy is not a DSM diagnosis, there are tests to determine if a person would be considered psychopathic. One of these tests is the Psychopathy Check List (PCL-R, Hare, 1991) and it is based on 20 questions which is scored 0, 1, or 2. The higher the score is there is more of a chance that the person may exhibit psychopathic traits. Generally, a person would be “diagnosed” with a score of 30 or higher. The questions that are asked centers around internal qualities such as superficial charm, grandiose sense of self worth, manipulative, and lack of remorse. Most of these questions center around internal rather than external qualities of a person which can make it hard to come to a “diagnosis.” Although a lot of the questions focus on internal qualities, some focus on antisocial behaviors. Some of the behavioral questions focus on antisocial behaviors which started in adolescents. These questions on the offender's adolescent years focus on behavior such as juvenile delinquency, and early behavior problems.
Some of the symptoms of both ASPD and psychopathy are early behavioral problems and often before the age of 15. In order for someone to be diagnosed with ASPD they must have also shown signs of Conduct Disorder (CD) before 15. For a diagnosis of CD there must have been aggression towards people or animals, deceitfulness, serious violation of rules, and destruction of property. Aggression towards people can be with or with out a weapon or physical force such as bullying another child. With juvenile delinquency as part of the diagnosis for both ASPD and psychopathy, there is a relationship between aggressiveness and violence in adolescents and adult diagnosis of psychopathy.
Aggressiveness and Violence in Adolescents
Types of Aggression and Violence in Adolescents
Aggression and violence in adolescents is becoming more of a serious social concern as we learn more on how it impacts others. Aggression in the form of bullying has been around through out history though it has only recently came to light as a social concern. An article on the American Psychological Association website “School Bullying is Nothing New, But Psychologists Identify New Ways to Prevent it” stated a study which found that during the school year 16% reported being bullied, 19% reported having bullied others, and 6% reported having bullied others and have been the victim (http://www.apa.org/research/action/bullying.aspx). Bullying can come in several forms which includes spreading rumors to hitting another person. Some of the acts which can be defined as bullying are also very similar to some of the symptoms of psychopathy. These would be intimidating others to get others to do things for you to the actual physical violence of hitting and punching another child. Another part of physical bullying that is common is the theft of a possession of another child. This is generally characterized in the media as a kid stealing lunch money from a younger child.
Bullying is just one type of aggression and violence which is exhibited by adolescents but teens have also been involved in other types of aggression. Some of the other forms of violence among adolescents is theft with confrontation which can be one of the symptoms of CD. Some have gone so far as to physically harm another person or animal. While rare, some have killed or attempted to kill another person. Though, some forms of bullying can show what some children and adolescents are capable of with violence. The types of aggression seems to be mainly divided between two main groups: reactive and instrumental aggression. Reactive aggression is mostly aggression in response to a situation while instrumental is to come to a specific goal.
Characteristics of Adolescent Aggression and Violence
Children with CD, especially those who developed it early on, is at risk for developing ASPD later in their adult life. Lynam stated in his article “Early Identification of Chronic Offender: Who is the Fledgling Psychopath” that men and women who exhibited conduct problems in late childhood were found to be more likely to have antisocial behaviors later in life. Men were especially acceptable to commit violent criminal acts, become abusive to their spouse, and drive while intoxicated (Lynam, 1996). Another study found that adolescents who were violent predicted continued antisocial behavior later into adulthood (Gretton, Hare, Catchpole 2004). It seems that we can possibly predict, to some extent, how likely the violent and aggressive adolescent will continue with their antisocial behaviors.
The article from the APA also gave the characteristics of bullies in school and most seem to correlate with similar characteristics of psychopathy in adults. The characteristics of bullies are: need to dominate others, impulssivity, and show little empathy toward their victims (http://www.apa.org/research/action/bullying.aspx). This seems to correlate with the psychopathic characteristics of a poor life plan and a lack of remorse or guilt. Lochman (1984) emphasized, to an extent some of these characteristics, which were also characteristics of a type of aggressiveness. The pervasive instrumental type, he mentioned, had a stronger need to dominate and control others. Not only do these adolescents want control but they are also more likely to be less able to be empathetic or to understand another's perspectives. These are the same type of characteristics which are found in bullying and psychopathy.
Psychopathy and Adolescent Aggression
Conduct Disorder and Psychopathy
Adolescents in general tend to have a higher tendency towards aggression and violence than any other age range. Because adolescents are going through puberty it is generally considered normal to have some deviant behavior. In fact nearly half of adolescent will admit to theft and over half will admit to having engaged in more than one type of antisocial behavior (Lynam, 1996). It is when the deviant behavior is consistently extreme which makes it possible for a diagnosis to be given. Because there is some normative antisocial behavior in adolescents, a diagnosis of either ASPD or psychopathy in adolescents is a controversial issue among clinicians. This is one reason why most often children and adolescents would be first diagnosed as having CD.
Through out it's course, the diagnosis CD went from four different types to two types where 3 out of 15 symptoms has to exist with the last year. The two types are based on the age of onset of the disorder which are characterized as early or late starters. As the diagnosis of ASPD do not include internal qualities, the diagnosis of CD does not include these qualities either. Burke, Loeber, and Lahey (2007) argues that since CD is a precursor to adult psychopathology its criteria is missing these key components in their diagnosis. They also argue that the course for those who will advance from CD to ASPD from those who will not are not clearly defined. Because of these limitations in diagnosis, they argue that consideration of internal qualities such as callousness is also a predictor to adult psychopathy. In their research they found a significant correlation between interpersonal callousness and psychopathy scores in young adulthood.
Although psychopathy is not the same as ASPD, it seems that a lot of Abnormal Psychology textbooks and classes refer to psychopathy as ASPD. Research have also shown that some children who are diagnosed as having CD are also diagnosed with ASPD in adulthood (Burke, Loeber, & Lahey, 2007). Lynam (1996) discussed research on the participants who were antisocial in adolescents went on to be diagnosed with of psychopathy as adults. As there is no official diagnosis of psychopathy, it seems reasonable to assume they are speaking of a diagnosis of ASPD. Lynam goes on to say that in order to find who will adult psychopaths we need to look at the antisocial adolescents. He especially noted that in half of the cases of those who experienced severe conduct problems went on to be antisocial adults.
Hyperactivity and Psychochopathy
Hyperactivity in children can come out in several different ways but mostly people think of a child who can't sit still and wait their turn. This can seem like an impulse control issue which is one of the symptoms of psychopathy in adults. Freidenfelt and Klinteburg (2007) studied the relationship between hyperactivity in children and psychopathy in adulthood. They noted that hyperactivity can be a predictor for later psychopathology, specifically psychopathy, in adults. They did a study of 287 boys between 11 and 14 years who they devided between an early criminals group and a comparison group. They did a fellow up session when the boys were then in their 30s, and they tested 199 of them, where 133 were in the early criminals group. They administered the PCL-R to the subjects at the follow up session. The results was that those who were hyperactive as children received a high score on the test. They also found that those who scored high on the PCL-R were also highly impulsive and sensation seeking.
Psychopathy in Adolescents and Adults
As mentioned earlier, psychopathy in adolescents is right now a very controversial among the experts. Because this is still a controversial issue, there is not much known of psychopathy in adolescents. The construct of psychopathy in adolescents arose among professionals who realized that an overestimate of conduct problems may arise on relying on behavioral diagnosis (Gretton, Hare, & Catchpole, 2004). Also, there seemed to be a realization that external behavioral issues is not the only issues to be taken in consideration. Secondly, the construct of adolescent psychopathy came about to differentiate adolescence who could become psychopathic from those whose deviant behavior would discipate over time (Lynam, Caspi, Moffitt, Loeber, & Stouthamer-Loeber). Gretton, Hare, and Catchpole (2004) believes that aggression and violence in adolescent forensic samples can be predicted by adolescent psychopathy. They also found through their study that there seems to be a stability in violent behavior over several years.
Although there seems to be some evidence to point to that adolescent psychopathy develops into adult psychopathy, there does not seem to be strong evidence. There is only slight evidence that psychopathy scores predicts violent recidivism. Although, there was a study which studied psychopathy scores in adolescents then in adults. In this study they found that psychopathy scores at 13 years old was weakly correlated with psychopathy scores as an adult. They also found that 9% was identified as possibly psychopathic as a young adult. As did the last study shown with violence, this study had shown that psychopathy scores are relatively stable over several years (Lynam et al). Both of these studies gives us greater understanding of how prevalent, not only adult psychopathy, but adolescent as well. Because antisocial behaviors is common among adolescents, it is important to understand psychopathy as it relate to adolescents.
Violence and Psychopathy
Violence, especially among adolescents, seem to be common place especially in relation to the media where there is almost always some form of violence. Also with the media, they make it seem almost fun in their video games to kill or rape another person. The more violent the game is the better a child or adolescent will enjoy the game. Our society in general is not alone in the fascination of violence. Psychopaths are generally violent toward others whether that violence is physical or verbal. Fritz, Wiklund, Koposov, Klinteburg, and Ruchkin (2008) discussed three possible links between psychopathy and violence. The first was that psychopaths perceives violence as normal and to see aggressive acts as rewarding. A second link that was discussed was related to the psychopath's narcissistic traits which was also linked to childhood psychopathy. Finally, a third link seems to be behavioral based on the psychopath's tendency toward impulsivity. Their study focused on the three links influence on a person's violent behaviors. Through their study, they found that the more violent groups also had higher psychopathic traits. They were also associated with higher levels of physical aggression and had a perception of antisocial behavior as being normal.
Conclusion
Even though violence and aggression is, to a point, normative among adolescents there seems to be a link between the extremely violent adolescents and adult diagnosis of psychopathy. Studies have shown that violence among adolescents tend to remain stable over several years and into adulthood. Psychopathy also has several similar traits to one of the most severe social issues, bullying. Both bullying and psychopathy seem to share the common trait of wanting control over another and using intimidation to control others. Both CD and hyperactivity also both share common links to psychopathy. Both CD and psychopathy share the traits of serious violence of rules, disregard of others, and aggression towards people or animals. Hyperactivity and psychopathy both seem to share a seemingly inability for impulse control.
Violence seems to be a fact of everyday life especially for a psychopath who is often times verbally violent if they are not also physically violent. Violence also seems to be part of day to day life for an adolescent though the severity is what separates an average adolescent from the psychopathic adolescent. There does not seem to be any therapy or punishment which affects the adult psychopath and it also does not seem to work one an adolescent reaches a certain age. Perhaps by understanding how severe violence in adolescents is related to psychopathy in adulthood there could be advances made lessening these symptoms if caught early enough in adolescents.
References
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