Personality development in juvenile delinquents
Eindhoven, 20.04.2017
Klaus Schmeck
Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Hospital Psychiatric University Hospitals Basel / Switzerland
Personality development
Personality is codetermined by
› genetic and constitutional dispositions, on the one hand,
and
› interaction of the individual with environmental,
particularly psychosocial, features in the course of
psychological development, on the other.” (Kernberg, 2016)
Personality development is a transactional process.
| 2 26. April 2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch |
Person-Environment-Transactions (Schneewind, 2005)
› Reactive Person-Environment-Transactions different individuals react differently to the same environment
(e.g. attributional bias of conduct disordered children)
› Evocative Person-Environment-Transactions specific personality traits or behaviours evoke certain reactions
in other people (e.g. parental reaction towards children with difficult temperament)
› Proactive Person-Environment-Transactions individuals choose their environment and have an impact on it (e.g. choice of friends, partner, profession, leisure activities etc.)
| 3 26. April 2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch |
Cloninger‘s biopsychosocial model of personality
Personality
Temperament Character
automatic emotional reactions
(activation, inhibition and
maintenance of behavior),
„style” of behavior
Self concepts, goals and values, that
influence the ability to adapt to
oneself and the social environment
(Neuro-) biologically based, stable
dispositions, „heterotype continuity“
continuos development by
sociocultural learning
modulated by character
development is based on temperament
basis of personality ...
... what is made out of it
Four Temperament Dimensions Three Character Dimensions
Novelty Seeking
Exploratory Excitability, Impulsiveness,
Extravagance, Disorderliness
Self Directedness
Responsibility, Purposefulness,
Resourcefulness, Self-Acceptance
Harm Avoidance
Fear of uncertainty, Anticipatory worry,
Shyness, Fatigability
Cooperativeness
Social acceptance, Empathy, Helpfulness,
Compassion, Pure-hearted Conscience
Reward Dependence
Sensitivity, Openness to warm
communication, Attachment, Dependence
Self-Transcendence
Self-forgetful, Transpersonal Identification,
Spiritual Acceptance
Persistence
Eagerness of effort, Ambitious, Perfectionist
Cloninger‘s biopsychosocial model of personality
Cloninger‘ s concept of personality development
P
high
CO
high
SD
high
influence of temperament on character development
(„-“ = decrease / „+“ = increase of “mature“ character development)
“mature“
character
development +
-
+
-
RD
high
HA
high
NS
high
education /
psychosocial influences
Self Directedness
Responsibility
Purposefulness
Resourcefulness
Self-Acceptance
Cooperativeness
Social acceptance
Empathy
Helpfulness
Compassion
Conscience
Influence of temperament on character development
harm avoidance
highmediumlow
mean o
f S
D_T
70
60
50
40
30
novelty seeking
low
medium
high
37
44
50
42
49
57
44
53
59
persistence
highmediumlow
mean o
f S
D_T
70
60
50
40
30
reward dep.
low
medium
high
59
50
47
53
48
45
48
43
38
School Sample
350 boys, 356 girls
Schmeck (2001)
Personality and psychosocial adversity
AchseV-Lifetime-Belastung
>85-81-4,00
Mitt
elw
ert
NV
_T
60,0
55,0
50,0
45,0
40,0
53,6
52,3
48,8
45,7
AchseV-Lifetime-Belastung
>85-81-4,00
Mitt
elw
ert
SV
_T
60,0
55,0
50,0
45,0
40,0
59,1
53,053,2
52,0
Novelty Seeking Harm Avoidance
AchseV-Lifetime-Belastung
>85-81-4,00
Mitt
elw
ert
SL
_T
60,0
55,0
50,0
45,0
40,0
35,0
38,3
45,4
48,7
50,6
Self-Directedness
Correlations of JTCI personality dimensions with SDQ
Emotional Problems
(internalizing) Behaviour Problems
(externalizing) Total Problem Score
JTCI
3-6
JTCI
7-11
JTCI
12-18
JTCI
3-6
JTCI
7-11
JTCI
12-18
JTCI
3-6
JTCI
7-11
JTCI
12-18
NS .14 .19 -.06 .53 .59 .46 .69 .47 .27
HA .70 .52 .62 .10 -.03 .02 .35 .19 .46
RD .13 .02 .07 -.11 -.02 -.09 -.09 .00 -.13
P -.19 -.12 -.19 -.30 -.27 -.32 -.47 -.45 -.44
SD -.48 -.44 -.58 -.17 -.36 -.27 -.55 -.58 -.62
CO -.04 -.32 .08 -.60 -.66 -.43 -.58 -.57 -.30
ST -.05 .04 .23 .07 -.04 .02 -.06 -.03 .14
NS = novelty seeking, HA = harm avoidance, RD = reward dependence, P = persistence, SD = self directedness, CO = cooperativeness, ST = self transcendence
JTCI 3-6 (n=124) JTCI 7-11 (n=105) und JTCI 12-18 R (n=115) Goth et al. (2009)
Temperament and the development of
externalizing disorders
Low social
responsiveness
externalizing
disorders
Impaired acceptance of
societal norms and rules decreased
behavioral control
Strong behavioral
activation
Level of aggressive and delinquent behavior (YSR)
by Novelty Seeking (NS) and Reward Dependence (RD)
NVbaNVBAnvbanvBA
Mitt
elw
ert
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
Dissozialität
Aggressivität
p<.001
Delinquent behavior
Aggressive behavior
ns RD ns rd NS RD NS rd
Schmeck (2001)
Samples and study-instruments
Samples:
• Community sample (N = 840, 12-18y.; 480 boys, 360 girls)
• MAZ-project in Swiss juvenile justice institutions (N = 592; 402 boys,
190 girls)
Instruments:
• Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) – Self report Questionnaire
(50 Items to assess the three factor model of psychopathy)
• Self reported delinquency (Boers & Reinecke, 2007)
YPI to assess psychopathy in adolescents (Andershed et al. 2002; German version Schmeck et al. 2005)
Dishonest Charm
Grandiosity
Lying
Manipulation
Interpersonal
(grandiose, manipulative)
Remorselessness
Unemotionality
Callousness
Affective
(callous, unemotional)
Impulsiveness
Thrill-Seeking
Irresponsibility
Behavioral
(impulsive, irresponsible)
26.04.2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch | 14
Description of the samples
Institutions, gender, age, country of birth
Residential care N=592
School N=894
Data collection 2007 – 2011 2007 – 2009
Institutions 64 17
Male 402 (67.9%) 508 (56.8%)
Female 190 (32.1%) 386 (43.2%)
Age range 5.2 – 26.8 10.9 – 22.5
Mean age (SD) 15.9 (3.0) 17.6 (1.7)
Born in Switzerland 484 (81.8%) 763 (85.3%)
YPI and Delinquency in Males
5
7.5
10
12.5
15
Interpersonal
Affective
Behavioral
Total Score
no offence (n=21)
low-level offence (n=24)
moderate offence (n=25)
severe offence l.v. (n=76)
severe offence h.v. (n=76)
P < 0,01 = **
P < 0,05 = *
N = 222
Mean
** **
**
**
YPI and Delinquency in Females
5
7.5
10
12.5
15
Interpersonal
Affective
Behavioral
Total Score
no offence (n=11)
low-level offence (n=13)
moderate offence (n=19)
severe offence l.v. (n=24)
severe offence h.v. (n=11)
P < 0,01 = **
P < 0,05 = *
Mean
**
**
**
26.04.2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch | 17
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Residential care (N=519) School (N=888)2
YPI Callous-Unemotional Dimension
Distribution
Lennox & Dolan (2014). Temperament and character and psychopathy in male
conduct disordered offenders. Psychiatry Res. 215(3):706-10
122 incarcerated juvenile male offenders who met the criteria for conduct
disorder in the absence of current psychiatric disorder
• PCL: YV total score was positively correlated with Novelty Seeking but
negatively correlated with Cooperativeness and Harm Avoidance.
Examination of the PCL: YV facets indicated a significant negative
correlation between Harm Avoidance and PCL: YV Interpersonal and PCL:
YV Antisocial; and Reward Dependence and Cooperativeness and PCL: YV
Lifestyle/Behavioral. Relationships were primarily with lifestyle/behavioral
and antisocial facets of psychopathy.
• TCI profile resembles that seen in adult offenders and has implications for
treatment as low cooperativeness and reward dependency are likely to be
key responsivity factors that need to be addressed in treatment planning.
Basoglu et al. (2011).Temperament traits and psychopathy in a group of
patients with antisocial personality disorder. Compr Psychiatry 52(6):607-12
In comparison to a control group
(N=65) showed ASPD patients (N=68):
significantly higher psychopathy
scores (PCL)
significantly higher TCI Novelty
Seeking and Harm Avoidance scores,
significantly lower TCI Reward
Dependence, Persistence, Self-
Directedness, and Cooperativeness
scores.
Kerr et al. (2012). Psychopathic traits moderate peer influence on
adolescent delinquency. J Child Psychol Psychiatry 53(8):826-35
• Research question: Do psychopathic traits moderate peer influence on
delinquency?
• Moderation in two ways:
1) psychopathic traits of targets (those being influenced) could make targets
more or less easily influenced by peers (those exerting influence)
2) peers’ psychopathic traits could make peers more or less influential.
• peer network approach with five waves of longitudinal data from 847
adolescents in one community
• Targets' and peers' callous-unemotional and grandiose-manipulative traits
uniquely moderated peer influence on delinquency:
1) targets who were high on these traits were less influenced by peers'
delinquency
2) peers who were high on these traits were more influential on targets'
delinquency.
Mann et al. (2015). Person × Environment Interactions on Adolescent
Delinquency: Sensation Seeking, Peer Deviance and Parental Monitoring Pers Individ Dif. 76:129–134
Psychobiological foundation of personality (Roth & Strüber, 2014)
| 23
unconscious personality components
middle limbic level
lower limbic level
upper limbic level Cortex / Hippocampus
Brainstem, Hypothalamus, PEG, central Amygdala
NAcc, VTA, basal ganglia, basolateral Amygdala
OFC, vmPFC, ACC, Insula left assoc. Neocortex, Broca - Wernicke
Temperament
basic affective reactivity
emotional conditioning
reward and motivation systems
inborn /
prenatal
early
childhood
middle + late
childhood
adolescence
INDIVIDUAL-SOCIAL SELF emotional / social experiences
moral, ethics, normative values
COGNITIVE-COMMUNICATIVE SELF intellect, intelligence, problem solving
working memory, structuring of information
personal goals, planned action
FOUR LEVELS OF PERSONALITY
Personality Development, a transactional process
Genetic
Predisposition +
Pre- / perinatal
influences
Neurobiological /
Psychological
STRUCTURE
Temperament
Cognitive Capacity
Character
Object Relations
Moral Values
Identity
Developmental
Tasks
Interpersonal
Relationships
PERSONALITY
Gene-Environm.-Interaction
early relationship
experiences
„emotional
conditioning“
Influences of
psychosocial
environment /
Life Events
Postnatal
influences /
Nutrition, Diseases,
Accidents etc.
Summary
Personality development
• has to be understood as a transactional process, i.e. a constant exchange between constitutional factors and environment
• the individual plays an active role in these processes.
Personality and juvenile delinquency
• personality traits like callous-unemotional or grandiose-manipulative traits, high novelty seeking or low reward dependence - are risk factors for the development of antisocial behavior - serve as moderators for environmental influences on juvenile delinquency
• Positive parental influences substantially decrease the risk of peer influence on delinquent development
| 25 26. April 2017
Person-Environment-Transactions (Schneewind, 2005)
› Reactive Person-Environment-Transactions different personalities react differently to the same environment
(= Multifinality)
› Evocative Person-Environment-Transactions specific personality traits or behaviours evoke certain reactions
in other people
› Proactive Person-Environment-Transactions individuals high in psychopathic traits have a stronger impact on peers
| 26 26. April 2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch |
| 27 26. April 2017 Universitäre Psychiatrische Kliniken Basel | www.upkbs.ch |
Thank you for your attention!
Nilsson et al. (2015). Genotypes Do Not Confer Risk For Delinquency but
Rather Alter Susceptibility to Positive and Negative
Environmental Factors: Gene-Environment Interactions
of BDNF Val66Met, 5-HTTLPR, and MAOA-uVNTR. Int. J.
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015:1–10
• In 2006, as part of the Survey of Adolescent Life in Västmanland, Sweden,
1 337 high-school students, aged 17–18 years, anonymously completed
questionnaires and provided saliva samples for DNA analyses.
• Results: the two genotype combinations that differed the most in
expression levels (BDNF Val66Met Val, 5-HTTLPR LL, MAOA-uVNTR LL
[girls] and L [boys] vs BDNF Val66Met Val/Met, 5-HTTLPR S/LS, MAOA-
uVNTR S/SS/LS) in interaction with family conflict and sexual abuse were
associated with the highest delinquency scores.
• The genetic variants previously shown to confer vulnerability for
delinquency (BDNF Val66Met Val/Met × 5-HTTLPR S × MAOA-uVNTR S)
were associated with the lowest delinquency scores in interaction with a
positive child-parent relationship.
• Conclusions: Functional variants of the MAOA-uVNTR, 5-HTTLPR, and
BDNF Val66Met, either alone or in interaction with each other, may be best
conceptualized as modifying sensitivity to environmental factors that confer
either risk or protection for teenage delinquency.
Nilsson et al. (2015). Genotypes Do Not Confer Risk For Delinquency but
Rather Alter Susceptibility to Positive and Negative
Environmental Factors: Gene-Environment Interactions
of BDNF Val66Met, 5-HTTLPR, and MAOA-uVNTR. Int. J.
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015:1–10
Nilsson et al. (2015). Genotypes Do Not Confer Risk For Delinquency but
Rather Alter Susceptibility to Positive and Negative
Environmental Factors: Gene-Environment Interactions
of BDNF Val66Met, 5-HTTLPR, and MAOA-uVNTR. Int. J.
Neuropsychopharmacology, 2015:1–10
Aghajani et al. (2016). Dissociable Relations Between Amygdala Subregional Networks and Psychopathy Trait Dimensions in Conduct-Disordered
Juvenile Offenders. Human Brain Mapping 37:4017–4033