Abstract
This chapter aims to follow up some of the biosocial issues outlined in Chapter 1, and attempt an initial answer to some of the questions posed by the biosocial model developed in that chapter. In doing so, new results will be presented from the Mauritius study, a longitudinal psychophysiological study of child and adult psychopathology conducted on the island of Mauritius. A specific focus will be placed on two main risk factors for antisocial behavior which have been pursued by the first author over the past two decades, namely, low resting heart rate, and reduced electrodermal orienting. The longitudinal approach will be emphasized in this chapter because it is felt that clearer answers to the questions posed in chapter 1 will emerge from prospective studies. In particular, this chapter is concerned with links between psychophysiological and social measures taken at age 3, and aggressive behavior measured at age 11 years in a large sample of 1,795 males and females, Indian and Creole participants. Interactions with temperament will also be explored because this construct has been linked with both autonomic activity (Scarpa et al., 1996; Kagan, 1988; Kagan et al. 1989) and aggression (Caspi et al. 1995; Caspi and Silva, in press).
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Achenbach T.M. and Edelbrock C.S. (1979) The Child Behavior Profile: II. Boys aged 12–16 and girls aged 6–11 and 12–16. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 47 223–233.
Baker, L.A., Reynolds, C., and Phelps, E. (1992). Biometric analysis of individual growth curves. Behavior Genetics 22 253–264.
Brennan, P., Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Mednick, S.A. (1994). Psychophysiological protective factors for children at high risk for antisocial outcome. Psychophysiology 31 30.
Buchsbaum, M.S., and Reider, R.O. (1979). Biologic heterogeneity and psychiatry research. Archives of General Psychiatry 36 1163–1169.
Buikhuisen, W., Bontekoe, E.H.M., Plas-Korenhoff, C. D. and S. Buuren (1985). Characteristics of criminals: The privileged offender. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 7 301–313.
Cannon, T.D., Raine, A., Herman, T.M., Mednick, S.A., Schulsinger, F. and Moore, M. ( 1992). Third ventricle enlargement and lower heart rate levels in a high risk sample. Psychophysiology 29 294–301.
Caspi, A. Henry, B., McGee, R.O., Moffitt, T.E. and Silva, P.A. (1995). Temperamental origins of child and adolescent behavior problems: From age three to age fifteen. Child Development 66 55–68.
Caspi, A. And Silva, P.A. (in press). Temperamental qualities at age 3 predict personality traits in young adulthood: Longitudinal evidence from a birth cohort. Child Development
Cox, D., Hallam, R., O’Connor, K. and Rachman, S. (1983). An experimental study of fearlessness and courage. British Journal of Psychology 74 107–117.
Dawson, M.E. (1990). Psychophysiology at the interface of clinical science, cognitive science, and neuroscience: Presidential address, 1989. Psychophysiology 27 243–255.
Dawson, M.E., Schell, A.M. and Filion, D. (1991). The electrodermal system. In J.T., Cacioppo, L.G. Tassinary, and A. Fridlund (Eds). Principles of psychophysiology: Physical, social and inferential elements. (pp. 295–324). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Eysenck, H.J (1964). Crime and personality (1st ed.) London: Methuen.
Eysenck, H.J. (1977). Crime and personality (3rd. ed.). St. Albans: Paladin.
Eysenck, H.J. and Gudjonsson, G. H. (1989). The causes and cures of criminality. New York: Plenum.
Farrington, D.P. (1987). Implications of biological findings for criminological research. In S.A. Mednick, T.E. Moffitt, & S.A. Stack (Eds.), The causes of crime: New biological approaches (pp. 42–64). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Fowles, D.C. (1993). Electrodermal activity and antisocial behavior. In J.C. Roy, W. Boucsein, D.C. Fowles and J. Gruzelier (Eds). Electrodermal activity: From physiology to psychology. New York: Plenum.
Gottman, J.M. and Katz, L.F. (1989). Effects of marital discord on young children’s peer interaction and health. Developmental Psychology 25 373–381.
Hazlett, E., Dawson, M., Buchsbaum, M.S., and Nuechterlein, K. (1993). Reduced regional brain glucose metabolism assessed by PET in electrodermal nonresponder schizophrenics: A pilot study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 102 39–46.
Hemming, J.H. (1981). Electrodermal indices in a selected prison sample and students. Personality and Individual Differences 2 37–46.
Kagan, J. (989). Temperamental contributions to social behavior. American Psychologist 44 668–674.
Kandel, E., Mednick, S.A., Kirkegaard-Sorensen, L. and Hutchings, B. (1988). IQ as a protective factor for subjects at high risk for antisocial behavior. Journal of Consulting and Clinical psychology 56 224–226.
McBurnett, K. and Lahey, B.B. (1994). Biological correlates of conduct disorder and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. In D.C. Fowles (Ed.). Progress in experimental personality and psychopathology research. New York: Springer.
Maliphant, R., Hume, F., and Furnham, A. (1990). Autonomic nervous system (ANS) activity, personality characteristics and disruptive behavior in girls. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 31 619–628.
McMillan, T.M. and Rachman S-J. (1987). Fearlessness and courage: A laboratory study of paratrooper veterans of the Falklands War. British Journal of Psychology, 1987 78 375–383.
O’Connor, K., Hallam, R., and Rachman, S. (1985). Fearless and courage: A replication experiment. British Journal of Psychology 76 187–197.
Quay, H.C. (1965). Psychopathic personality as pathological stimulation-seeking. American Journal of Psychiatry 122 180–183.
Raine, A. (in press). Psychophysiology and antisocial behavior. In J.D. Master, J. Brieling, and D. Stoff (Eds). Handbook of antisocial behavior.
Raine, A. (1996). Autonomic nervous system activity and violence. In D.M. Stoff and R.F. Cairns (Eds.) The Neurobiology of clinical aggression. (pp. 145–168). Lawrence Erlbaum.
Raine, A. (1987). Effect of early environment on electrodermal and cognitive correlates of schizotypy and psychopathy in criminals. International Journal of Psychophysiology 4 277–287.
Raine, A. (1988). Antisocial behavior and social psychophysiology. In H. Wagner (Ed.) Social psychophysiology and emotion: Theory and clinical application (pp. 231–253). London: Wiley.
Raine, A. (1993). The psychopathology of crime: Criminal behavior as a clinical disorder San Diego: Academic Press.
Raine, A., Brennan, P., and Farrington, D.P. (in press). Conceptual and theoretical issues facing biosocial research on violence. In Raine, A., Brennan, P., Farrington, D.P. and Mednick, S.A. (Eds). Biosocial bases of violence. New York: Plenum.
Raine, A., Buchsbaum, M.S., Stanley, J., Lottenberg, S., Abel, L. and Stoddard, J. (1994). Selective reductions in pre-frontal glucose metabolism in murderers. Biological Psychiatry. 36 365–373.
Raine, A. and Mednick, S.A. (1989). Biosocial longitudinal research into antisocial behavior. Review d’Epidemiologie et de Sante Publique 37 515–524.
Raine, A., Reynolds, G.P. and Sheard, C. (1991). Neuroanatomical mediators of electrodermal activity in normal human subjects: A magnetic resonance imaging study. Psychophysiology 28 448–558.
Raine, A. and Venables, P.H. (1981). Classical conditioning and socialization—A biosocial interaction? Personality and Individual Differences 2 273–283.
Raine, A. and Venables, P.H. (1984b). Tonic heart rate level, social class, and antisocial behavior. Biological Psychology 18 123–132.
Raine, A. and Venables, P.H. (1984a). Electrodermal non-responding, schizoid tendencies, and antisocial behavior in adolescents. Psychophysiology 21 424–433.
Raine, A., Venables, P.H., and Mednick, S.A. (1996) Reduced resting heart rate at age 3 years predicts to aggressive behavior at age 11 years: Findings from the Mauritius Child Health Study (under review).
Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Williams, M. (1990a). Relationships between CNS and ANS measures of arousal at age 15 and criminality at age 24. Archives of General Psychiatry 47 1003–1007.
Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Williams, M. (1990b). Relationships between N1, P300 and CNV recorded at age 15 and criminal behavior at age 24. Psychophysiology 27 567–575.
Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Williams, M. (1995). High autonomic arousal and electrodem1al orienting at age 15 years as protective factors against criminal behavior at age 29 years. American Journal of Psychiatry 152 1595–1600.
Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Williams, M. (1996). Better autonomic conditioning and faster electrodermal half-recovery times at age 15 as possible protective factors against crime at age 29 years. Developmental Psychology 32 624–630.
Sampson, R. And Laub, J.H. (In press). Unraveling the social context of physique and delinquency: A new long-term look at the Glueck’s classic study. In Raine, A., Brennan, P., Farrington, D.P. and Mednick, S.A. (Eds). Biosocial bases of violence. New York: Plenum.
Scarpa, A.S., Raine, A., Venables, P.H. and Mednick, S.A. (in press). Heart rate and skin conductance in behaviorally inhibited Mauritian children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology
Snidman, N., Kagan, J. and McQuilkin, A. (1991). Fetal heart rate as a predictor of infant behavior. Psychophysiology 28 51.
Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Loeber, R., Farrington, D.P., Zhang, Q., van Kammen, W.B. and Maguin, E. (1993). The double edge of protective and risk factors for delinquency: Interrelations and developmental patterns. Development and Psychopathology 5 683–701.
Venables, P.H. (1978). Psychophysiology and psychometrics. Psychophysiology 15 30–315.
Venables, P.H. and Christie, M.J. (1973). Mechanisms, instrumentation, recording techniques, and quantification of responses. In W.F. Prokasy and D.C. Raskin (Eds). Electrodermal activity in psychological research. New York: Wiley.
Wadsworth, M.E.J. (1976). Delinquency, pulse rate and early emotional deprivation. British Journal of Criminology 16 245–256.
Wilson, J.Q. and Hermstein, R.J. (1985). Crime and human nature. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Zahn, T.P. and Kruesi, M.J.P. (1993). Autonomic activity in boys with disruptive behavior disorders. Psychophysiology 30 605–614.
Zahn-Waxler, C., Cole, P.M., Welsh, J.D., and Fox, N.A. (1995). Psychophysiological correlates of empathy and prosocial behaviors in preschool children with behavior problems. Development and Psychopathology 7 27–48.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1997 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Raine, A., Reynolds, C., Venables, P.H., Mednick, S.A. (1997). Biosocial Bases of Aggressive Behavior in Childhood. In: Raine, A., Brennan, P.A., Farrington, D.P., Mednick, S.A. (eds) Biosocial Bases of Violence. Nato ASI Series, vol 292. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4648-8_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-4648-8_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4757-4650-1
Online ISBN: 978-1-4757-4648-8
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive