Can sex differences in personality traits help to explain sex differences in antisocial behavior? Over the past month we have been discussing the results of the Dunedin Study of the development of antisocial behavior. In this study, researchers got to know over a thousand people through self reports, interviews, interviews of friends, teachers, parents and significant others, and official school/arrest records. One finding was a higher rate of antisocial behavior in males as compared to females. The study also explored the causes of the observed sex difference.
The Dunedin findings
Among both males and females antisocial behavior was positive associated with aggression, alienation, and stress reaction, suggesting that young men and women who are involved in antisocial behavior were likely to take advantage of others, to mistrust others* and to feel betrayed and used by their friends and to become easily upset and irritable**.
Antisocial behavior was negatively associated with self-control, traditionalism and social closeness. The term self control here is part of what I call impulse control and others call Constraint. Constraint means reflective, cautious, careful, rational, planful; people high in Constraint endorse high moral standards and prefer safe activities even if they are tedious. Constraint is the opposite of the psychopathy inventory Factor 2 (stimulation seeking, impulsivity, irresponsible, parasitic orientation, lack of realistic goals, poor behavioral controls).
Antisocial behavior and personality in men and women
Overall the relationship between personality and antisocial behavior was the same for men and women. Lack of Constraint and Negative Emotionality were robust correlates of antisocial behavior among both men and women. Lack of Constraint was more likely to be associated with antisocial behavior in men than it was in women, however the difference was small.
Sex differences in antisocial behavior boil down to sex differences in personality. Sex differences in personality (self-control, harm avoidance, traditionalism, aggression, alienation, stress reaction, social closeness, achievement and social potency) explained 96% of the sex differences in antisocial behavior and 78% of the sex differences in conduct disorder diagnosis.
How to prevent antisocial behavior-work on personality
Individuals at-risk for sociopathy are at-risk because their genes make it difficult for them to develop Constraint and Ability to Love. A human being’s fate isn’t set at birth! Nor is it set in cement at 15, 30, 45”¦ Parenting an at-risk child means helping that child develop Love and Constraint. Parents need the help of the rest of society and our schools to do that.
Experiences make a difference
Some schools have instituted programs that I believe make a difference. I was very proud this week when my 6 year old son brought home a note written from a girl in his class. The note said “Dear______ I noticed you were kind because when you wanted to get blue you said I could get the blue. Signed A____” The class has a program of recognizing kindnesses by writing notes to peers. In order to let A___ have “the blue” my son had to practice holding himself back for the sake of another. That is the essence of Constraint, and love to an extent. Experiences like this are extremely important for at-risk kids. These experiences have to happen both at school and at home.
Constraint improves with practice but there has to be a reason for kids to practice it. Furthermore, the heartfelt practice of Constraint is more effective in building personality than is the “forced” practice of constraint. So programs with positive rewards work better than programs that focus on punishing bad behavior that has already happened.
If you read this and notice that you too have issues with Constraint, I encourage you to work on it. We do not have to be slaves to our temperaments. We have a higher brain we can use to become better. My friend who is a Buddhist says that a human life is celebrated because it comes with choices and possibilities not available during other lives”¦ What do you think?
*As per Kathleen Hawk’s theory of sociopathy!
**That exact profile has been called secondary psychopathy as opposed to the low emotionality of primary psychopathy. Some people also equate secondary psychopathy to sociopathy and reserve the term “psychopath” for those who are cold and generally without emotion. The “psychopath” that narrowly defined is very uncommon. Perhaps less than 0.8% of the population. Sociopaths comprise up to 10% of the population. I explain all these numbers in Driven to Do Evil, my next book which is coming soon…
I see human mental genetics similar to the way engineers see strength of materials. There is no material (outside of cosmological anomalies like black holes) that is infinitely strong. With increasing tensile stress exerted on a material, plasticity ends at a “yield point”, after which the material permanently deforms until it reaches it’s “ultimate strength” and breaks.
My view of human mental genetics assumes that no brain is ’infinite’ against some stress, be it nature, nurture or environmental. My hope is certainly that the ’sociopathic yield strength’ can be pushed to smaller than 10%, and the ’psychopathic ultimate strength’ can be pushed to smaller than 0.8%. But IMO, there will always be a point of diminishing returns, and another of no returns… unless of course, I am wrong.
Here’s Kathleen Hawk with more detail on this:
Dear Liane,
Thank you for this article….even assuming that “psychopaths” are “only” 0.8%, but “sociopaths” are 10% of the population—sheesh! Add in all the other cluster Bs, and the number is astounding and depressing, though “instinctively” even that number seems somewhat “low” to me….I would at least like to think that I was “over reacting”—like you do when you get a “new” breed of dog you’ve never had before, it seems everywhere you look, you see another one, when you never noticed them before.
SOS: good analogy as well. Thankx.
“Constraint improves with practice but there has to be a reason for kids to practice it. Furthermore, the heartfelt practice of Constraint is more effective in building personality than is the “forced” practice of constraint. So programs with positive rewards work better than programs that focus on punishing bad behavior that has already happened.”
This strikes me as consistent with what I know of how habitual behavior is developed. Policies in child rearing and education that utilize this precept should make a difference.
I just kind of flashed on something—-about “constraint”—I have a “problem” that I laugh about that is “I can RESIST anything EXCEPT TEMPTATION”—and with this I am referring to my preferred snack foods. I will eat cookies until the last one is gone, etc. so I try to limit the amount of these things that are available for me to “not resist” which is one way for me to CONSTRAIN myself even when I don’t have any “restraint.”
There is more than one way to CONTRAIN yourself when you are tempted….(nodding head here) just like a person whose “temptation” is alcohol or drugs needs to stay out of bars and away from those people who use those drugs, we need to STAY AWAY, FAAAAARRRRR away from ANYONE who is toxic to our welfare.
Oxy…Constraint…follow the “rules”…keep out of trouble. Do the little things…be respectful, etc. You’ll end up with no “record.”
The exception is righteous anger…when your boundaries are violated by the “entitled ones” who feel rules apply to everyone but them.
Constraint is good.
And the sun shines and earth warms…opportunity awaits…I’ll return again in the darkness and cooler air. TOWANDO!
Oh, Jim, I am WRITING MY OWN RULES (does that make me sound like a Narcissist? LOL) The “rules” say that old women should be sedate and quiet, but I am boisterous and far from sedate. (Picture me in my cowboy hat riding the Fat Ass!)
So the first chance I get I am going to do away with my BROWN felt cowboy hat and go for a big purple or red one, maybe with sequins too! Or a big pheasant feather hat band! I already have a custom made HUGE trophy belt buckle that I earned! So you know, I am now a “buckle crone” instead of a “buckle bunny!” LOL ROTFLMAO
I too am back outside in the sunshine and the warm weather! See ya all later.
Hi Louise,
I read your story in the Canadian Living issue and was inspired about the strength of the human spirit. Another reason I picked up the magazine was because I recognized your last name.
I am the youngest of the Dion family. You and your sister had a friendship with my sisters, Marion and Yvonne, back in Lahr, Germany. You are the same Lousie, aren’t you?
Anyways, if this is correct thus far then I would like to know where I can buy your book. I’d like to give it to Yvonne and Marion as a gift. They will be surprised and delighted to see how far you’ve come!!
I look forward to hearing from you. If you’d like to write me a more personal note, I can be contacted at: imceline@hotmail.com
Thank you,
Irene
This thought just occurred to me, and I would like your comments . .
What is the biggest difference between Narcissists/Psychopaths/Sociopaths and us?
The ability to love!
What is one of the over-riding characteristics of the N/P/S?
They are they are extremely jealous & envious and must WIN!
We have something they will never have . . i.e., the ability to love.
They are envious and jealous of us for that and they THEY MUST WIN . . i.e., take that ability away from us.
By their:
lying,
cheating,
raging,
gaslighting,
put-downs,
blaming,
conning,
etc.
It makes it impossible for us to love them.
They have taken away our ability to love them . . and in their demented minds . . . THEY WON!
No matter what happens, win, lose or draw: they twist it into a “win” for themselves. Even if they go to jail for beating you up, they “won” because they beat you up.
No matter how they are “punished” by society or anything else, they twist it all into a “win” for themselves by distorting reality. Even if they don’t “get” anything by “winning” and you do “lose” it is still a “win” for them.
By those standards, they ALWAYS WIN, by our standards, they ALWAYS LOSE because they cannot ever love!
Actually . . when we have their “number” . . they, the P/N/S’s are VERY easy to understand. They all have the same BEHAVIORAL characteristics. What’s hard to wrap your head around, is that the BEHAVORIAL characteristics are INSANE.