0000000000309377
AUTHOR
Jaana Haapasalo
Retrospective reports of childhood abuse and neglect among violent and property offenders
Abstract Childhood abuse and neglect may increase the risk for later antisocial and criminal behavior, especially violent behavior. The objective of this study was retrospectively to compare childhood abuse and neglect experiences in the groups of Violent and Property offenders. The sample consisted of 34 recidivist inmates with the mean age of 26.9 years. The findings showed that physical, psychological, and sexual abuse and neglect was experienced by 82%, 97%, 3% and 94% of the offenders, respectively. There were no significant differences in the prevalence of abuse or neglect between the Violent and Property offenders. Neither were the groups differentiated by any combination of the abus…
How do young offenders describe their parents?
The study examined (1) what dimensions of parenting would emerge from retrospective reports of parental behaviour, and (2) whether childhood family violence and parental problems are associated with later perceptions of parenting among 89 young male Finnish inmates. The inmates completed the Parent Behaviour Inventory (PBI) and the Conflict Tactics Scales (CTS). Data on childhood family violence and parental problems were obtained from two files. The PBI yielded three factors and the CTS two factors for both mothers and fathers. When the PBI and CTS factors were combined into a principalcomponents analysis, five dimensions of perceptions of parenting emerged: maternal rejection, paternal re…
Childhood Family Problems and Current Psychiatric Problems among Young Violent and Property Offenders
The main objective was to examine whether young property and violent offenders would differ from each other in the prevalence of childhood abuse and neglect experiences, prevalence of various early family problems, and prevalence of disruptive behavior disorders, depression, and substance use.Childhood abuse and neglect assessments and family problems were based on interview, questionnaire, and file data. Psychiatric diagnoses were made on the basis of a structured clinical interview.There were no statistically significant differences in the prevalence of childhood physical or psychological abuse, or neglect between the groups. According to the files, physical abuse was experienced by 57.5%…
Mothers who killed or attempted to kill their child: life circumstances, childhood abuse, and types of killing.
The objectives of the present study were to examine the life circumstances, childhood abuse, and types of homicidal acts of 48 mothers who killed/attempted to kill their children) under age 12 between 1970-96 in Finland. Data on the mothers’ life stresses, psychological problems, and childhood abuse were collected from mental state examination (MSE) reports. The cases were divided into 15 neonaticides and 33 mothers who killed an older child. Childhood abuse was documented in 63% of the mothers’ MSE reports. Qualitative analysis identified neonaticides, joint homicide-suicide attempts, impulsive aggression, psychotic acts, postpartum depression, and abusive acts. Nonlinear principal compone…
Child-rearing and child abuse antecedents of criminality
A number of studies reviewed here show that those who are exposed to negative child-rearing practices varying from punitive and lax parenting to severe punishment and abuse in childhood tend to be antisocial, aggressive and commit violent crimes later in life. Both the record approach (Widom) studying later outcomes among abused children and the retrospective approach (Lewis) studying violent childhood experiences among offenders provide support for the violence breeds violence hypothesis. It appears clear that punishment in child-rearing increases the risk for maladaptive developmental outcomes but that the mechanism explaining the link between negative parenting and later maladjustment is…
Victim to Victimizer: The Psychology of Isomorphism in a Case of a Recidivist Pedophile in Finland
ABSTRACT An extreme case of a six victim, 38-year-old recidivist sex offender was selected for examining the isomorphic relationships between child sexual abuse trauma and adult sex offenses. This sex offender had victimized children of both sexes and an adult woman. Life history, letter, file, and the Adult Attachment Interview information were analyzed to seek the relations between childhood abuse experiences and adult offending. Both subjective reports and file data revealed that the man had experienced severe physical, psychological, and sexual abuse in childhood. His pattern of sexual offending against children was similar to his own experiences of sexual abuse by his father. The age o…
Cleckleyn psykopaatin muotokuva haastatteluvastausten valossa
The core characteristics of the Cleckley psychopath are superficial charm, good intelligence, absence of neurotic and psychotic symptoms, unreliability, pathological lying, inadequately motivated antisocial behavior, affective poverty and failure to follow any life plan. This study aimed at introducing both Cleckley's description of psychopathy and the Psychopathy Checklist developed by Hare for the assessment of psychopathy. A sample of 92 inmates, convicted mainly of property, narcotics· and traffic offenses, was assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist that was completed on the basis of an interview and file data. In addition, the inmates filled in personality questionnaires. Hereafter, …
Official and Self-Reported Childhood Abuse and Adult Crime of Young Offenders
This study sought to predict adult criminal behavior in a sample of 89 young male prison inmates using self-reported and official data on childhood maltreatment (gathered from interviews and files) and criminality (collected using a 33-item Self-Reported Criminality Scale and official criminal records). Overall, the offenders convicted of violent versus nonviolent crimes did not differ in self-reported criminality. File-based neglect was predictive of self-reported property offenses, and self-reported psychological abuse predicted self-reported vandalism. Official criminal record data was not predicted by self-reported or file-based childhood maltreatment. The findings provided evidence of…
Mothers' abusive childhood predicts child abuse
To examine the intergenerational transmission of abuse, the study compared 25 mothers whose child had been under the supervision of the child protection services (CPS) with 25 mothers who had had no contact with the CPS. The groups were compared with respect to their own self-reported childhood abuse, their abuse of their own child and punitiveness. The data were gathered using interviews and files. There were no significant differences between the groups in self-reported childhood physical abuse, but the CPS mothers had experienced more childhood psychological abuse, especially rejection, accusations, terrorizing and corrupting. The groups did not differ in the self-reported physical or ps…
Child Abuse Potential
Twenty-five mothers whose children had been under the supervision of the Child Protection Services (CPS group) primarily for neglect and 25 comparison mothers were compared with respect to their child abuse potential as assessed by Milner's Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAPI). We examined whether the CPS mothers' child abuse potential would still be elevated 7 years after the reported maltreatment of their child. Second, an attempt was made to predict the CAPI scores with the mothers' childhood abuse experiences, adulthood social problems, and socioeconomic status. The CPS mothers scored significantly higher than the comparison mothers on most of the CAPI scales, indicating their persis…
Types of Offense among the Cleckley Psychopaths
The Cleckley psychopath is superficially charming and convincing in his behavior but also unreliable and callous. These personality characteristics imply that he/she may be prone to deceive and manipulate others. In the area of criminality, this may mean apropensity to fraud-like offenses. The present paper tested the argument by comparing types of offense committed by psychopaths and nonpsychopaths. The Psychopathy Checklist was used for psychopathy assessments. In a sample of 92 male offenders, the percentage of the Cleckley psychopaths convicted for fraud-like offenses was higher than among the other offenders. The results were discussed with respect to the problem of circular conclusio…
Eysenckin persoonallisuuskyselyn ja Zuckermanin elämyshakuisuusasteikon faktorirakenteet ja pisteitys Suomessa
According to the Eysenckian personality theory, extraversion (E), neuroticism (N) and psychoticism (P) are the fundamental personality dimensions which emerge in many different cultures. These dimensions have been assessed by the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire comprising four scales: E, N, P and a Lie (L) scale. The sensation-seeking trait, based on Zuckerman's theory, has also been studied in various cultures. The Sensation Seeking Scale (Form V) consists of four subscales: Thrill and Adventure Seeking (TAS), Experience Seeking (ES), Disinhibition (Dis) and Boredom Susceptibility (BS). The four-factor structure has emerged in many countries. The objective of the present study was to asc…
The Psychopathy Checklist and non-violent offender groups
Cleckley’s concept of psychopathy includes characteristics such as superficial charm, unreliability, and affective poverty. In this study, the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL) and personality questionnaires (MMPI, CPI, EPQ, and SSS) were used to assess 92 non-violent male offenders. The variable-based approach was applied in order to study the structure of the PCL and the relationships between the PCL, the PCL factors and the personality questionnaire scores. The results indicated that the personality scale scores failed to correlate positively with the PCL score, with the exception of the MMPI hypomania score. Two PCL factors emerged: factor 1 related to the core personality characteristics of …
Neurological and Psychological Risk Factors among Young Homicidal, Violent, and Nonviolent Offenders in Finland
This study compares groups of homicidal offenders, violent offenders, and nonviolent offenders across a set of risk factors that included neurological disorders, early behavior problems, and abuse experiences. It was predicted that the homicidal group would present more of these risk factors than the other two groups. Also, it was predicted that the homicidal participants would show more evidence of an accumulation of these problems. The results revealed that the onset of alcohol abuse, prevalence of drug dependence, extent of physical abuse, and cruelty to animals differentiated the homicidal offenders from one or both of the other offender groups. Additionally, a combination of different…