Childhood Maltreatment and Aggressive Behaviour in Violent Offenders with Psychopathy

Abstract

Among violent offenders, PCL-R scores were positively associated with proactive aggression, while experiences of childhood maltreatment were not. This finding concurs with previous studies of children and adults and suggests that proactive aggression may be a behavioural marker of psychopathic traits. By contrast, childhood physical abuse was associated with reactive aggression, even among violent offenders with high PCL-R scores. This latter finding suggests a strong influence of childhood physical abuse on the development of reactive aggression that persists over the lifespan.