Citation

Lindberg N, Laajasalo T, Holi M, Putkonen H, Weizmann-Henelius G, Häkkänen-Nyholm H. BMC Psychiatry 2009; 9(1): 18.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group - BMC)

DOI

10.1186/1471-244X-9-18

PMID

19419577

PMCID

PMC2685380

Abstract

BACKGROUND: The aim of the study was to evaluate psychopathy-like personality traits in a nationwide consecutive sample of adolescent male homicide offenders and to compare the findings with those of a randomly sampled adult homicide offender group. A further aim was to investigate associations between psychopathic traits and offence-, victim- and offender characteristics in adolescent homicides. METHODS: Forensic psychiatric examination reports and crime reports of all 15 to19- year- old Finnish offenders who had been subjected to a forensic psychiatric examination and convicted for a homicide during 1995-2004 were collected (n=57). A random sample of 57 adult male homicide offenders was selected as a comparison group. Offence, victim, and offender characteristics were collected from the files and a file-based assessment of psychopathic traits was performed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) by trained raters. RESULTS: One in five homicidal male adolescents showed high traits of psychopathy. No significant differences existed between the adolescents and adults in PCL-R total scores, factor 2 scores, or in facets 3 and 4. Adults scored significantly higher on factor 1 and facets 1 and 2. The adolescent group was divided into two subgroups according to PCL-R total scores. Boys with high levels of psychopathic traits (PCL-R > 26) significantly more frequently used excessive violence during the index homicide, more often had a crime history before the index homicide, more rarely lived with both parents until 16 years of age, had more institutional or foster home placements in childhood, had more school difficulties, more often had received special education, and, more often had contact with mental health services prior to age 18 years than boys with low levels of psychopathic traits (PCL-R < 26). The group scoring high on PCL-R also more often had parental criminal history as well as homicide history of parents or near relatives than the group scoring low on PCL-R. CONCLUSIONS: Finnish homicidal male adolescents as a group display serious aggressive and violent behavior. Homicidal adolescents with high levels of psychopathic traits form a special subgroup among other homicidal youngsters. Recognizing their characteristics, especially in life course development, would facilitate effective prevention and intervention efforts.

Language: en