Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study
- 3 Sex differences in the amount of antisocial behaviour: dimensional measures
- 4 Sex differences in the prevalence of antisocial behaviour: categorical diagnostic measures
- 5 Sex differences in physical violence and sex similarities in partner abuse
- 6 Sex and the developmental stability of antisocial behaviour
- 7 Sex and the age of onset of delinquency and conduct disorder
- 8 Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males more vulnerable than females to risk factors for antisocial behaviour?
- 9 Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males exposed to more risk factors for antisocial behaviour?
- 10 Can sex differences in personality traits help to explain sex differences in antisocial behaviour?
- 11 Sex and comorbidity: are there sex differences in the co-occurrence of conduct disorder and other disorders?
- 12 Do girls who develop antisocial behaviour surmount a higher threshold of risk than their male counterparts?
- 13 Sex differences in the effects of antisocial behaviour on young adult outcomes
- 14 Sex, antisocial behaviour, and mating: mate selection and early childbearing
- 15 Evaluating the recommendation to relax the criteria for diagnosing conduct disorder in girls
- 16 Life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behaviour among males and females
- 17 Priorities for a research agenda
- References
- Index
10 - Can sex differences in personality traits help to explain sex differences in antisocial behaviour?
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 22 September 2009
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of figures
- List of tables
- Preface
- Acknowledgements
- 1 Introduction
- 2 The Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study
- 3 Sex differences in the amount of antisocial behaviour: dimensional measures
- 4 Sex differences in the prevalence of antisocial behaviour: categorical diagnostic measures
- 5 Sex differences in physical violence and sex similarities in partner abuse
- 6 Sex and the developmental stability of antisocial behaviour
- 7 Sex and the age of onset of delinquency and conduct disorder
- 8 Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males more vulnerable than females to risk factors for antisocial behaviour?
- 9 Sex effects in risk predictors for antisocial behaviour: are males exposed to more risk factors for antisocial behaviour?
- 10 Can sex differences in personality traits help to explain sex differences in antisocial behaviour?
- 11 Sex and comorbidity: are there sex differences in the co-occurrence of conduct disorder and other disorders?
- 12 Do girls who develop antisocial behaviour surmount a higher threshold of risk than their male counterparts?
- 13 Sex differences in the effects of antisocial behaviour on young adult outcomes
- 14 Sex, antisocial behaviour, and mating: mate selection and early childbearing
- 15 Evaluating the recommendation to relax the criteria for diagnosing conduct disorder in girls
- 16 Life-course persistent and adolescence-limited antisocial behaviour among males and females
- 17 Priorities for a research agenda
- References
- Index
Summary
In the previous two chapters we examined sex differences in the early risk predictors for antisocial behaviour. We continue this theme in this chapter by turning our attention to sex differences in the relation between personality and antisocial behaviour. A personality analysis of sex differences in antisocial behaviour may improve our understanding of the diathesis underlying antisocial disorders. Personality research has already described the nature of the propensity toward antisocial behaviour by organizing information about the individual differences in cognitions, motivations, emotions, and distinct styles of approach and response to the world that robustly predict criminal offending (Moffitt et al., 1995). Just as males and females differ on their antisocial involvement on average (chapters 3 and 4), males and females are also known to differ on their personalities on average (Feingold, 1994). If population sex differences in personality traits could account for the sex difference in antisocial behaviour this conjunction would suggest that measured quantitative personality traits may be a window on to core diatheses underlying antisocial disorders. Such a window could deepen our understanding of antisocial propensity because findings about the origins of personality traits are rapidly emerging from several quarters in the behavioural sciences. Longitudinal studies attest to developmental links from early childhood temperament to later adult personality (Caspi, 2000; Caspi et al., forthcoming).
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- Chapter
- Information
- Sex Differences in Antisocial BehaviourConduct Disorder, Delinquency, and Violence in the Dunedin Longitudinal Study, pp. 123 - 134Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2001