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Implications of Antisocial Parents

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Abstract

Antisocial behavior is a socially maladaptive and harmful trait to possess. This can be especially injurious for a child who is raised by a parent with this personality structure. The pathology of antisocial behavior implies traits such as deceitfulness, irresponsibility, unreliability, and an incapability to feel guilt, remorse, or even love. This is damaging to a child’s emotional, cognitive, and social development. Parents with this personality makeup can leave a child traumatized, empty, and incapable of forming meaningful personal relationships. Both genetic and environmental factors influence the development of antisocial behavior. Moreover, the child with a genetic predisposition to antisocial behavior who is raised with a parental style that triggers the genetic liability is at high risk for developing the same personality structure. Antisocial individuals are impulsive, irritable, and often have no concerns over their purported responsibilities. As a parent, this can lead to erratic discipline, neglectful parenting, and can undermine effective care giving. This paper will focus on the implications of parents with antisocial behavior and the impact that this behavior has on attachment as well as on the development of antisocial traits in children.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, 201 Highland Lane, Bryn Mawr, PA, 19010, USA

    Zachary D. Torry

  2. New York University School of Medicine, New York, NY, USA

    Stephen B. Billick

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  1. Zachary D. Torry
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Correspondence to Zachary D. Torry.

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Torry, Z.D., Billick, S.B. Implications of Antisocial Parents. Psychiatr Q 82, 275–285 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-011-9169-z

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