Adolescent Girls at HighRisk for Involvement in Aggressive

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Adolescent Girls at High-Risk for Involvement in
Aggressive Antisocial Behaviour

• Ruth Coupland
• Supervisor Dr. Marlene Moretti
• Department of Psychology, SFU

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Aggression in Girls

• Rates of aggression increasing in girls.
• In Canada
• 1988-1998 girls violent crime doubled
• 1996-2006 violent crime? in boys ? in girls
• Due mainly to ? in less serious violent acts
  (e.g. common assault).
• Relatively little known specifically about girls.

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The Gender and Aggression Project

• International Multidisciplinary research team led
  by Dr. Marlene Moretti, SFU
• Longitudinal study of high-risk adolescent youth
  in Canada and the US
• Sample of girls at highest risk for aggression
  antisocial behavior from Canada and US
• 220 girls
• 98 matched boys

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Purpose of the Gender and Aggression Project

• Identify risk and protective factors and
  associated mental health and social outcomes in
  girls at high-risk of aggression and antisocial
  behaviour
• My Project The relationships between
  maltreatment and psychopathy

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Aggression in Girls

• High comorbidity with internalizing and
  externalizing problems
• In our sample girls had
• ? Depression
• ? PTSD
• Later problems in parenting
• Lower academic and occupational success
• Greater reliance on social assistance

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Aggression in Girls

• Similar protective factors for boys and girls
• Positive peer relationships
• Good affect regulation
• Unique protective factors
• Social support and prosocial relationships may be
  more important for females

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Aggression in Girls

• Similar risk factors for boys and girls
• Parental criminality
• Maltreatment
• Low IQ
• Sensation-seeking
• Unique risk factors
• Family breakdown
• Greater exposure to maltreatment

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Relational Context

• Research suggests that girls aggression may be
  better understood by considering relational
  contexts.
• Importance of relationships with others
• Family breakdown
• Relational aggression
• Greater exposure to maltreatment

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Rates of Aggression

• Girls more likely to aggress against their
  mothers and romantic partners
• Boys more likely to aggress against peers
• Mean scores on Littles Aggression Inventory
  (possible range 25-100)
• Penny Moretti, 2007

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Maltreatment and Psychopathy in High-Risk
Adolescents
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Maltreatment

• Harm or risk of harm to a child or adolescent by
  a caregiver.
• Physical Abuse
• Sexual Abuse
• Psychological Abuse
• Exposure to Family Violence
• Neglect

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Maltreatment

• ? 1 in 3 children experience maltreatment
• Associated with
• Anxiety and depression
• Low self-esteem
• Antisocial behavior
• Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant
  Disorder
• Psychopathy

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Maltreatment
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Psychopathy

• Pervasive personality characteristics
• Interpersonal grandiosity, manipulative, lying
• Affective lack of remorse, shallow affect
• Lifestyle irresponsible, impulsive
• Behavioural anger, serious criminal behaviour
• Key Feature Lack of Conscience
• Perceived as difficult or impossible to treat
• Not well understood in females

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Mean PCL-YV Scores
Penny Moretti, 2007
Factor 1 Arrogant/Deceitful Interpersonal
Style Factor 2 Deficient Affective
Experience Factor 3 Impulsive and Irresponsible
Behavioural Style
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Development of Psychopathy

• Biological Pathways
• Violence Inhibition Mechanism
• Parental Socialization
• Response to moral transgressions
• Modelling
• Parent-child discourse

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Psychopathy Subtypes

• Primary Psychopathy
• Biological predisposition
• Secondary Psychopathy
• Environmental
• Maltreatment
• Trauma

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Maltreatment and Psychopathy

• Maltreatment is related to
• Psychopathy in adult male and females
• Adolescent males
• Studies do not report on specific types of
  maltreatment
• Sexual abuse related to psychopathy in adult
  females

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Maltreatment and Psychopathy in Adolescent Girls

• Odgers et al. 2005
• Maternal maltreatment ? psychopathy in girls
• Krischer Sevecke, 2008
• Offenders gt non-offenders
• Females gt males
• Neglect ? psychopathy in males females
• Physical and Emotional abuse ? psychopathy in
  males but not females

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Limitations in Previous Research

• Inconsistencies regarding maltreatment subtypes
• Including different subtypes can lead to
  different results
• Psychopathy subtypes not included
• Maltreatment may be more relevant for secondary
  psychopathy than primary

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Current Studies

• Goals
• To test for primary and secondary psychopathy
  groups in adolescent females
• To examine the relationships between maltreatment
  subtypes and psychopathy subtypes in adolescent
  males and females.

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Hypotheses

• Primary and Secondary psychopathy subtypes will
  be present
• Childhood maltreatment will predict psychopathy.
• maltreatment ? secondary psychopathy
• The relationship between maltreatment and
  psychopathy will be stronger for secondary
  psychopathy than primary psychopathy.
• The relationships between specific subtypes of
  maltreatment and psychopathy will also be
  examined.

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Hypotheses

• Females will report experiencing greater levels
  of maltreatment than males.
• Given the important role maltreatment plays in
  female adolescents aggression, and psychopathy,
  females will be more likely to fall into the
  secondary subtype than males.

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Significance

• Psychopathy is generally viewed as
• homogeneous construct
• difficult or impossible to treat
• Psychopathy subtypes may differ in
• Etiology
• Comorbid psychological symptoms
• Outcomes following treatment.
• Implications for future research on psychopathy
  as well treatment development.