Cracking the puzzle of callous children

Badly-behaved children who also have callous and emotional traits such as a lack of guilt, no empathy with other people and a callous use of others are more likely to become serious and long-term criminals. However, there is limited evidence about what the risk factors for callous and emotional traits are. A team of researchers, led by Edward D. Barker from Birkbeck University, used information from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children to study around 7,000 mothers and their children to find out more. They looked at risks to do with the mother - such as whether the mothers had mental-health problems, were criminals or had drug problems before their children were born - whether the child had a 'fearless' temperament at two and the effects of harsh and warm parenting. Maternal risk was found to increase fearless temperament at two and bad behaviour and callous unemotional traits at 13. Fearless temperament at two was also associated with bad behaviour and callousness at thirteen, above and beyond the influence of parenting and maternal prenatal risk. Fearless temperament in boys manifested itself as an indifference to punishment while in girls it showed itself as boldness towards new people and situations.

Barker, Edward D. ... [et al] - The impact of prenatal maternal risk, fearless temperament and early parenting on adolescent callous-unemotional traits: a 14-year longitudinal investigation Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02397.x

Fear and psychopathy

Children with psychopathic traits feel emotions less strongly and have less empathy for other people and recent research suggests that they may feel fear less than other people. A team of researchers from the National Institute of Mental Health in the U.S. investigated this issue in a study of 42 children aged between 10 and 17, 18 of whom had psychopathic traits. The children were asked to talk about how they felt during five recent 'emotionally evocative' events. The study found that psychopathy was associated with feeling less fear and fewer symptoms of sympathetic nervous system arousal such as a pounding heart or sweaty palms.

Marsh, Abigail A. ... [et al] - Adolescents with psychopathic traits report reductions in physiological responses to fear Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02353.x

Searching for a psychopath? Mind the gap!

In Philip Kerr's novel A Philosophical Investigation the authorities scan people's brains and those thought to be at risk of behaving violently or antisocially are monitored closely by the authorities. A team of researchers, led by Adrian Raine from the University of Pennsylvania, have brought this scenario a small step closer in a study of 87 people. They looked for the presence, or absence, of a gap between areas of the brain which closes over in most people but can remain open if the brain develops abnormally. The gap is called the cavum septum pellucidum and 19 of the participants had it. Those who had the gap had significantly higher levels of antisocial personality, psychopathy, arrests and convictions, even if they had not been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder. Those who had been charged or convicted of an offence had a bigger gap than other participants and the results could not be attributed to prior trauma, head injuries, demographic factors or mental illness.

Raine, Adrian ... [et al] - Neurodevelopmental marker for limbic maldevelopment in antisocial personality disorder British Journal of Psychiatry September 2010, 197(3), 186-192

Psychopathy, guilt and responsibility

One of the main features about psychopathy is that people feel little sense of responsibility for, or guilt about, their actions. Researchers, led by Amy Batson from the South London and Maudsley NHS Trust, looked into these issues in a sample of 67 men held at six medium-secure units in the South-East of England. There was found to be a 'significant positive correlation' between psychopathy and blaming other people but there was no link between pscyhopathy and people's feelings of guilt.

Batson, Amy, Gudjonsson, Gisli, and Gray, Jacqueline - Attribution of blame for criminl acts and its relationship with pschopathy as measured by the Hare Psychopathic checklist (PCL-SV)