Psychopathic traits in young offenders vs. non-offenders in similar socioeconomic condition

• Published in: Revista brasileira de psiquiatria Vol. 36; no. 3; pp. 241 - 244
• Main Authors: Castellana, Gustavo B, Barros, Daniel M de, Serafim, Antonio de P, Busatto Filho, Geraldo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Brazil Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria 01.09.2014; Associação Brasileira de Psiquiatria (ABP)
• Subjects: Adolescent; antisocial personality disorder; Antisocial Personality Disorder - psychology; Brazil; Checklist; conduct disorder; Criminals - psychology; Humans; Juvenile delinquency; Juvenile Delinquency - psychology; Male; Personality Inventory; PSYCHIATRY; psychopathic personality; Socioeconomic Factors; Statistics, Nonparametric; Young Adult; Brazil; psychopathic personality; antisocial personality disorder; conduct disorder; Juvenile delinquency
• ISSN: 1516-4446; 1809-452X; 1809-452X
• DOI: 10.1590/1516-4446-2013-1127

To analyze the differences in psychopathic traits between offender and non-offender youths with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. The Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) scale was used to identify whether 39 young offenders with no history of mental disorders or criteria for psychopathy exhibited differences in its total score, and specifically for factor 1 or factor 2 of this scale, when compared with 32 other young people, living in similar socioeconomic conditions, who had not committed offenses. We observed statistically significant between-group differences (p < 0.01) in mean PCL-R scores, with a mean score of 13.4 in the offender group vs. 2.1 in the non-offender group. We also detected significant between-group differences when we analyzed mean factor 1 (p < 0.01) and factor 2 (p < 0.01) scores separately. Although the groups exhibited statistically significant difference in educational attainment, between-group comparison of mean PCL-R scores controlling for educational attainment by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that the difference in PCL-R scores remained statistically significant (p < 0.01). We conclude that, in this sample, the presence of both primary (interpersonal/affective characteristics) and secondary (lifestyle/antisocial behavior) psychopathic traits differed between offender and non-offender youths, even when excluding psychopathy and other mental disorders from the assessments. These results suggest a need for wide-ranging interventions, not restricted to socioeconomic aspects, for the management of juvenile delinquency.