TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2008//
TI  - Self-reported trauma, cortisol levels, and aggression in psychopathic and non-psychopathic prison inmates
JO  - Biological psychology
A1  - Cima, M.
A1  - Smeets, Tom
A1  - Jelicic, Marko
SP  - 75
EP  - 86
VL  - 78
IS  - 1
N2  - The relationship between self-reported traumatic childhood experiences, cortisol levels, aggression, and psychopathy was investigated in prison inmates (n=47) and healthy controls (n=27). Besides questionnaires, a brief salivary diurnal profile was measured. Results show that criminals (both psychopaths and non-psychopaths) demonstrate more traumatic childhood experiences than the control group. Within the group of criminals, psychopaths showed the lowest diurnal cortisol concentrations, whereas the non-psychopaths demonstrated highest daily average cortisol (DAC) scores. High levels of aggression were related to traumatic childhood experiences in non-psychopaths and control participants, but not in psychopaths. Although psychopathic offenders demonstrated low levels of cortisol, high levels of childhood traumatic experiences and high levels of aggression, cortisol was not a mediating factor between childhood traumatic experiences and aggression. Implications of the finding that psychopathic offenders displayed lower and non-psychopaths showed higher daily cortisol levels are discussed.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0301-0511
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.12.011
ID  - ref1
ER  -