Psychopathic personality and criminal violence across the life-course in a prospective longitudinal study: Does psychopathic personality predict violence when controlling for other risk factors?

Purpose: The purpose of the current study is to investigate to what extent, and when, psychopathic personality is predictive of violent convictions.Methods: By analyzing data from the Cambridge Study in Delinquent Development, the relationships between psychopathic personality, childhood risk factors, and violent convictions were investigated prospectively. Psy-chopathic personality was measured at ages 8-10, 12-14, and 48. A wide range of childhood risk factors (e.g. convicted father, parental discipline, and socioeconomic status) were measured at age 8-10. Violent convictions were available from ages 10 to 61. In addition, specific offenses (robbery, assault, weapons offenses, and threatening behavior) were studied in the analyses.Results: Psychopathic personality was predictive of violent offending across the life-course. After controlling for childhood risk factors, psychopathic personality was still a significant predictor of violent convictions.Conclusions: Psychopathic personality is predictive of violent convictions across the life-course, even after con-trolling for important childhood risk factors. Suggestions for future research are discussed.