The aim of this study was to investigate relations between psychopathic traits and internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescent boys and girls. A sample of 361 boys and 313 girls who...Show moreThe aim of this study was to investigate relations between psychopathic traits and internalizing and externalizing problems in adolescent boys and girls. A sample of 361 boys and 313 girls who attend prevocational and secondary vocational education in the Netherlands were assessed using self-report questionnaires. The Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory is used to measure psychopathic traits on the interpersonal factor, the affective factor, the lifestyle factor and on the total score. The Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire is a screening questionnaire on internalizing problems (emotional problems and problems with peers) and externalizing problems (hyperactivity/attention problems and conduct problems). The results reveal that boys reported higher scores on all the three factors of psychopathy (interpersonal factor, affective factor and lifestyle factor) than girls and on the total score of psychopathy. Girls reported higher scores on internalizing problems and there were no differences found between boys and girls scores on externalizing problems. Significant positive relations were found between all psychopathy factors and internalizing and externalizing problems in boys and girls. There were no differences found between boys and girls on the relationship between psychopathic traits and problem behavior. The results and their implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.Show less
Psychopathy causes a great burden for both the patient, his or her caregivers and for the rest of society. Secondary psychopathy seems to be environment-related and secondary psychopaths may...Show morePsychopathy causes a great burden for both the patient, his or her caregivers and for the rest of society. Secondary psychopathy seems to be environment-related and secondary psychopaths may therefore benefit from treatment. An important topic of psychopathy research is to examine what causes the development of secondary psychopathy in children. The prevalence of personality disorders is higher in ethnic minority groups within Western Europe. A possible explanation for the increased risk of personality disorders in ethnic minority groups is lower self-esteem, which can be caused by the experience of being isolated from a group. This study focused on the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem and secondary psychopathic traits in adolescents between 12 and 17 years and the effect of ethnicity on this relationship. Questionnaires were used to measure psychopathic traits and explicit self-esteem, respectively by the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Implicit self-esteem was determined with the aid of a computer task, the Implicit Association Task Self-Esteem, in which the reaction time was measured. As predicted, low self-esteem in Moroccan youth was correlated with higher levels of psychopathic traits and vice versa, which might be explained by the social-defeat model. On the contrary, this relationship wasn’t found for native Dutch adolescents. There seems to be no effect of social defeat for native Dutch adolescents. The ethnic differences in the relationship between self-esteem and psychopathic traits could not be explained by differences in socio-economic background. These results demonstrate that self-esteem is important in predicting secondary psychopathic traits in Moroccan youth. The social-defeat model gives an explanation for this relationship. In the future preventive programs should focus on increasing self-esteem, especially among ethnic minority groups, to reduce the chance of developing secondary psychopathic traits and psychopathy.Show less
The aim of this study was to examine the relationship of intrapersonal and environmental factors with emotional problems of Moroccan-Dutch, Turkish-Dutch and native Dutch youth. The research sample...Show moreThe aim of this study was to examine the relationship of intrapersonal and environmental factors with emotional problems of Moroccan-Dutch, Turkish-Dutch and native Dutch youth. The research sample consisted of 181 Moroccan-Dutch students, 149 Turkish-Dutch students and 211 native Dutch students in the age of 12 to 18 years. The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) was used to assess whether the students had emotional problems. The Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale was used to measure self-esteem and the Family Affluence Scale to measure the socio-economic status. The results show that emotional problems are most frequently reported by girls, except for Moroccan-Dutch students in which no difference is found between boys and girls. There was no difference in emotional problem between the younger group (12 to 14 year) and the older group (15 to 18 year). In general, students with low self-esteem seem to experience more emotional problems. Furthermore the results show that there are ethnic differences in the correlation between the socio- economic status and emotional problems. For Turkish-Dutch and native Dutch students the results show that a high socio-economic status correlates with less emotional problems. On the other side the results for Moroccan-Dutch students show that a high socio-economic status correlates with more emotional problems. For follow-up research it’s interesting to examine multiple intrapersonal and environmental factors in relation to emotional problems. This insight will help professionals in adjusting their methods more specifically to risk factors for emotional problems in Moroccan-Dutch, Turkish-Dutch and native Dutch youth.Show less
Psychopathy is described as a severe form of a personality disorder, which manifests itself in an antisocial, impulsive lifestyle and manipulative and egocentric interaction with the environment....Show morePsychopathy is described as a severe form of a personality disorder, which manifests itself in an antisocial, impulsive lifestyle and manipulative and egocentric interaction with the environment. Recent research has shown that psychopathy is associated with many risk factors. Important associated risk factors are ethnic background and having police contacts. According to several studies, ethnic background is an important risk factor for developing psychopathy, whereas psychopathy is a risk factor for police contacts. The role of psychopathic traits as a mediator between ethnic background and police contacts is researched. In the research, 390 twelve to eighteen year-olds with a Dutch or Moroccan ethnic background cooperated, of which 210 had a Dutch background and 180 a Moroccan background. Eight prevocational education schools (“vmbo”) and one secondary vocational education (“mbo”) school (1st grade) cooperated in the research. The participants filled out questionnaires. To measure the interaction between ethnic background, psychopathic traits and contact with the police, logistic regression is applied. There is a significant relation between psychopathic traits and police contacts. Participants with more psychopathic traits are more likely to have police contacts. The relations between ethnic background and police contacts, ethnic background and psychopathic traits could not be confirmed in this study. There is no significant difference between participants with a Dutch or Maroccan ethnic background in relation to psychopathic traits, nor in relation to police contacts. No mediation model was found, as the relation between ethnic background and contact with the police, controlled for psychopathic traits, is not significant. It can thus be concluded that psychopathic traits is an important factor, however it cannot explain the relationship between ethnic background and contact with the police.Show less
Background: Until now research has concentrated on the implementation of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) among Western adolescents. However, the YPI, a self-report instrument for...Show moreBackground: Until now research has concentrated on the implementation of the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) among Western adolescents. However, the YPI, a self-report instrument for measuring psychopathic traits, has been investigated insufficiently for implementation among Moroccan adolescents. The purpose of the present study is to investigate the cross-ethnic generalization of the three factor model (Cooke & Michie, 2011) for Moroccan adolescents. In addition, research is done into the relation between the three factors of the YPI and psycho-social problems among Dutch and Moroccan adolescents. This study is based on a study by Veen et al. (2011). Methods: By means of a multi-group confirmative factor-analysis, the measuring invariance of the YPI is tested among Dutch and Moroccan adolescents from the normal population (n=283). The relation between the three factor model, externalizing- and internalizing problems has been studied by means of a Pearson correlation test. Results: The data of the random check support the three factor model of the YPI for the Dutch and Moroccan adolescents. It can be concluded that there is a good constructive validity of the YPI. Results of the correlation test confirm the strong positive relation between psychopathic traits and externalizing problems. There is also a positive but less strong relationship with the internalising problems. These relations are the same for both groups. The positive relationship between the three factors and pro-social behaviour is striking. Conclusion: The results of the survey imply that the YPI can be used without any problems on Moroccan adolescents from a standard group. They are therefore a good lead for further research into the generalization of the YPI among other ethnic groups. It is desirable for the further development of effective treatment programmes that research into the relationship between psychopathic traits and psycho-social problems is going to focus more on gender differences.Show less
Background. Both Moroccan boys and psychopaths are overrepresented in justice institutions. Limited research is available about possible overlap. This study focused on the relationship between...Show moreBackground. Both Moroccan boys and psychopaths are overrepresented in justice institutions. Limited research is available about possible overlap. This study focused on the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem and psychopathic traits in Dutch and Moroccan boys adolescents between 12 and 18 years old. Methods. The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory and the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale were used to measure psychopathic traits and explicit self-esteem. Implicit self-esteem was examined by the Implicit Association Task Self-Esteem. Results. Moroccan and Dutch boys didn’t seem to differ in both implicit and explicit self-esteem. Moroccan boys showed higher scores on the affective factor, Dutch boys on the lifestyle factor. Low self-esteem in Moroccan youth caused higher levels of psychopathic traits. Since this relation wasn’t found for the native Dutch boys, the social-defeat model might be a plausible explanation for this outcome. Future research should focus on distinguishing psychopathy in primary traits and secondary traits by fear and anxiety, rather than by the affective and lifestyle factor. Secondary, increasing self-esteem among Moroccan boys is important in order to reduce the chance of developing psychopathic traits caused by social-defeat.Show less
This study examines behavior problems, psychopathic traits and self-confidence in Dutch, Turkish and Moroccan youth in the Netherlands. The social defeat model states that immigrant youth are prone...Show moreThis study examines behavior problems, psychopathic traits and self-confidence in Dutch, Turkish and Moroccan youth in the Netherlands. The social defeat model states that immigrant youth are prone to developing problems, because of the experience of not being part of the main ethnic group. This can cause stress, which makes the immigrant youth vulnerable. Self-confidence is supposed to protect against this effect. This study applies the social defeat model to behavior problems and psychopathic traits. Youth from age 12 till age 18 filled in questionnaires about themselves. It was found that Dutch youth had more attention/hyperactivity problems, Moroccan youth had more conduct problems and Turkish youth had more problems with peers. Both Moroccan and Turkish youth reported more feelings of superiority. It was also found that self-confidence is inverse related to behavior problems as well as psychopathic traits. Ethnicity did not play a role in this effect with respect to behavior problems. The social defeat model is therefore not applicable to behavior problems. With regard to psychopathic traits, ethnicity also did not seem to play a role. However, a trend became visible, indicating that for Dutch youth psychopathic traits were not related to self-confidence, whereas for Moroccan youth there was a moderate relation between self-confidence and psychopathic traits. The social defeat model may therefore be applicable to psychopathic traits in Moroccan youth.Show less
The primary purpose of this research was to examine psychopathic traits in adolescence and the association with ethnicity, self-esteem and socio economic status. Psychopathic traits can be divided...Show moreThe primary purpose of this research was to examine psychopathic traits in adolescence and the association with ethnicity, self-esteem and socio economic status. Psychopathic traits can be divided in three factors; the interpersonal factor, the affective factor and the behavioural factor (Cooke, Michie & Skeem, 2007). In the study two minority groups in the Netherlands; adolescence from Moroccan background and adolescence from Antillean background, were compared with the majority. The minority groups might experience stress trough social defeat, so that the assumption was that they scored higher on psychopathic traits (Selten & Cantor-Graae, 2005). The research question was: ‘What is the influence of ethnicity, socio economic status and self-esteem on psychopathic traits?’. Self-report assessments were administered to 302 adolescence in the age of 12 to 17 in the Netherlands. There were 170 (35%) Dutch adolescence, 108 (22%) adolescence with a Moroccan background and 27 (6%) with a Antillean background. Regression analyses revealed that a lower self-esteem predicted higher scores on psychopathic traits. Self-esteem and an Antillean background were predictors for the interpersonal factor on psychopathic traits. Self-esteem was also a predictor for the behavioural factor of psychopathic traits. And adolescence from Moroccan background with low self-esteem scored higher on psychopathic traits. It is possible that Moroccan adolescence experience social defeat so low self-esteem is a predictor for higher scores on psychopathic traits. This study provided support for the association between low self-esteem and psychopathic traits. The explanation can be found in the mechanism used by threatened egotism, when there is external negative evaluations (Baumeister, Smart & Boden, 1996). People with psychopathic traits are sensitive for ego threats. They will try keeping their self-esteem high with violence and aggression.Show less
Social defeat develops through the experience of discrimination and a disadvantage in society (Selton & Cantor-Graae, 2005). Because of this disadvantage, a feeling of inferiority may arise...Show moreSocial defeat develops through the experience of discrimination and a disadvantage in society (Selton & Cantor-Graae, 2005). Because of this disadvantage, a feeling of inferiority may arise causing chronicle stress which can cause psychological problems. In this article research is done on the existence of social defeat by Moroccan youth in The Netherlands. This group will be compared with native youth from The Netherlands and youth from the Netherlands Antilles living in The Netherlands. In addition, it is investigated whether there are differences in problem behaviour caused by social defeat and if there is a difference between Moroccan boys and girls in experiencing social defeat. The results in this research are checked for Social Economic Status and social desirability bias. In this research, 341 youths in the age of 12 to 17 from different preparatory secondary vocational education (in Dutch called VMBO) schools in The Netherlands participated by filling in questionnaires on their behaviour and wellbeing. The youth originated from Morocco, The Netherlands Antilles or The Netherlands. Results indicate that Moroccan youth experienced more social defeat than there native peers on all levels of Social Economic Status. Higher amounts of experienced social defeat cause higher levels of behavioural problems. But Moroccan youth did not report more behavioural problems than their native peers, indicating that social defeat influenced behavioural problems less for Moroccan youths compared to native youths. No difference was found in the experience of social defeat between Moroccan and Antillean youth. Also no difference was found in the experience of social defeat between Moroccan boys and girls.Show less
People with a low self-esteem can possibly be more violent to more easy targets to increase their own self-esteem (Ha, Peterson & Sharp, 2008). According to the model of Kohut (1977)...Show morePeople with a low self-esteem can possibly be more violent to more easy targets to increase their own self-esteem (Ha, Peterson & Sharp, 2008). According to the model of Kohut (1977) narcissistic traits can lead to conduct problems. This is because persons with high narcissistic traits won’t be able to change their high self-image. Lastly, the mask model (Kernberg, 1975) presumes that people with conduct problems can have a negative implicit self-esteem that can be masked by narcissistic traits. However, literature shows mixed evidence. Therefore this study was interested in to what extent narcissistic traits and/or low self-esteem are related to conduct problems in adolescents of 12-17 years old. This research included 549 adolescents (mean age: 14.8; SD = 1.22; 51% male) from 9 prevocational high schools. The measuring instruments were questionnaires and a computer task. To measure explicit self-esteem the Rosenberg Self-Esteem scale (Rosenberg, 1965) was used. Implicit self esteem was measured with the Implicit Association Task- Self Esteem (Greenwald, McGhee & Schwartz, 1998). Narcissistic traits were measured by a subscale of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (Das & De Ruiter, 2003). Conduct problems were measured by the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (Treffers & Van Widenfelt, 2005). The hypotheses have been tested by a regression analyses and interaction analysis. Results were that a low explicit self-esteem and narcissistic traits are individually related to conduct problems. Limitations of this study are the small effect sizes, risk of social desirability bias and the limited measure for narcissistic traits. However, strengths are the large and heterogeneous sample size, measuring both types of self-esteem and measuring narcissistic traits and self-esteem in the same sample. Future research can especially concentrate on interventions that increase explicit self-esteem.Show less
Aim. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of Moroccan ethnicity on the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem and psychopathic traits among adolescents in...Show moreAim. The aim of the present study is to investigate the influence of Moroccan ethnicity on the relationship between implicit and explicit self-esteem and psychopathic traits among adolescents in the age of 12 to 17 years old, when corrected for gender and SES. The results can underpin significant factors that influence the developmental pathways of psychopathic traits. Method. Thee-hundred and thirty-one lower secondary school children in the Netherlands of Dutch or Moroccan ethnicity filled in an anonymous digitized questionnaire. Measures used were the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (IPY), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (SRES) and the Family Affluence Scale III (FAS III), as well as the Implicit Association Task–Self Esteem (IAT-self-esteem). Parents were asked permission for participation. The data was collected by convenience based sampling. Results. The research shows that Moroccan ethnicity influences the relationship between implicit, but not explicit self-esteem and psychopathic traits regardless of SES and gender. This is not the case for Dutch ethnicity. This research also shows that boys have a higher prevalence for psychopathic traits than girls. These finding shows no difference between low and high SES and psychopathic traits. Discussion. The study is a first step towards recognition of risk situations that influence the development of secondary psychopathic traits in Moroccan Adolescents. Although Moroccan adolescents seem to differ from Dutch peers regarding the developmental pathways of psychopathic traits, more research is required. To provide effective treatment programs future research should focus on the specific development of psychopathic traits in girls and ethnic minorities.Show less
