Antisocial Behavior In Children Research Articles

A Systematic Review and Narrative Synthesis of Single-Case Group Contingency Interventions Targeting Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in School Children

Group contingencies are well established as methods for reducing disruptive classroom behaviors and increasing academic behaviors. However, their role in increasing prosocial behaviors has not yet been explored to the same extent. We conducted a systematic review of the single-case literature to synthesize the types of prosocial and antisocial behaviors targeted in school settings, the short-term and long-term behavioral contingencies used to target these behaviors, and the quality of the literature. We searched five databases for studies exploring the use of group contingencies to increase prosocial behaviors or decrease antisocial behaviors in children. Our narrative synthesis of the twenty-two included studies noted contingencies employed in these interventions consisted of either positive reinforcement or a combination of positive reinforcement and positive punishment. Of the 22 studies included for review, none met the What Works Clearinghouse Design Standards without reservations. Interobserver agreement and demonstration of effects over time were the most commonly unmet design standards. Future research should seek to encourage greater focus on both prosocial behavior and positive behavior change mechanisms. PROSPERO ID: CRD42022337025.

Machiavellian behavior and social-emotional functioning in middle childhood and early adolescence.

Machiavellianism is an antisocial interpersonal style involving the use of manipulative, deceptive, and coercive behaviors in the pursuit of self-interest. Although widely studied as a "dark" personality trait in adults, relatively little is known about the developmental correlates of Machiavellian tendencies earlier in life. The present study addressed this knowledge gap by examining associations between Machiavellian behavior and three theoretically relevant social-emotional domains-prosocial emotions, emotion recognition skills, and self-control-in a community sample of 7- and 11-year-old Canadian children (N = 300, 50% female). Of particular interest was the extent to which individual differences in social-emotional capacities were uniquely associated with Machiavellian behavior after controlling for aggression, a relatively well-studied antisocial behavior in childhood. Parents reported on children's Machiavellian behavior and aggression. Social-emotional correlates were assessed via parent and child reports, behavioral tasks, and physiological assessments. Machiavellian behavior and aggression were similarly associated with lower parent-reported prosocial emotions and self-control. Machiavellian (but not aggressive) behavior was associated with lower child-reported guilt (a prosocial emotion), higher resting skin conductance levels (reflecting a general tendency for higher arousal), and better anger recognition. Semipartial correlational analyses indicated that these patterns of association with Machiavellian behaviors held independent of aggression. These findings indicate that, by middle childhood, Machiavellian behavior constitutes a distinct form of antisocial conduct that is associated with a unique social-emotional risk profile. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Direct and indirect childhood victimization and their influence on the development of adolescents antisocial behaviors.

Experiences of direct and indirect victimization can be very common among children and adolescents of the general population and can have an important impact on their behavior. The general aim of this study was to analyze the possible association between childhood victimization and the development of antisocial behaviors during adolescence. The prevalence of child victimization and antisocial behaviors self-reported by adolescents is shown. Therefore, the individual associations between different types of childhood victimization and antisocial behaviors were explored. The sample comprised 459 general population adolescents. Data on six types of childhood victimization were collected using the Spanish version of the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire, and information on five types of antisocial behaviors was gathered using the short version of the Antisocial Behavior Questionnaire. More than 90% of the adolescents had been victimized at least once, while almost half of them had engaged in at least one type of antisocial behavior in the last 12 months. Witnessing and indirect victimization is the only type of childhood victimization associated with the antisocial behaviors analyzed. These results corroborate previous findings suggesting that witnessing and indirect victimization may have the same or similar impact to that of direct victimization on adolescents' social adjustment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Modeling the Nexus between Parenting Style and Anti Social Behavior using Ensemble Learning Approach

Contemporary society is grappling with issues of anti-social behavior in children and adolescents, one of which is influenced by parenting styles. This research employs machine learning technology, particularly ensemble learning, to model the relationship between parenting styles and anti-social behavior. The research data is derived from previous studies encompassing parenting style parameters and anti-social behavior. This data is preprocessed and feature-engineered, then used in modeling through the Random Forest (RF) and Adaptive Boost (AdaBoost) methods. Modeling is conducted in two phases: vanilla modeling and hyperparameter tuning. The results of the tuned models indicate that RF performs better (accuracy=91%) than AdaBoost (accuracy=72%). In conclusion, RF, as a bagging ensemble learning technique, effectively models the relationship between parenting styles and anti-social behavior. Future studies are recommended to gather more training data and develop an early detection system for use by child psychologists in the field.

The Emotionally Sensitive Child-Adverse Parenting Experiences-Allostatic (Over)Load (ESCAPE-AL) Model for the Development of Secondary Psychopathic Traits.

Understanding and treatment of antisocial behavior have improved through efforts to subtype individuals based on similar risk factors and outcomes. In particular, the presence of psychopathic traits is associated with distinct etiological factors and antisocial behavior that begins early in life, is aggressive, persistent, and less likely to normalize with traditional treatments, relative to individuals low on psychopathy or its childhood precursor, callous-unemotional (CU) traits. However, important distinctions can be made within individuals with CU/psychopathic traits according to the presence of elevated anxiety symptoms and/or adverse childhood experiences, known as secondary psychopathy/CU traits. This paper provides a broad and brief overview of theory and empirical literature supporting the existence of secondary psychopathy/CU variants as a distinct subtype of childhood antisocial behavior. It outlines the Emotionally Sensitive Child-Adverse Parenting Experiences-Allostatic (Over)Load (ESCAPE-AL) model for the developmental psychopathology of secondary psychopathic/CU traits and discusses research and theory supporting this perspective. Future research directions for testing this conceptual model and its implications for assessing and treating high-risk individuals with secondary CU/psychopathic traits are discussed.

The effectiveness of the Dutch Meaningful Roles program in children: a study protocol for a cluster randomized controlled study

BackgroundA positive, prosocial classroom climate is associated with improved social competence and academic achievement, as well as with decreased internalizing problems and antisocial behavior in children. It is expected that motivation to behave prosocially is needed to achieve a prosocial climate in the classroom, and that such motivation can be enhanced through three components of self-determination theory (SDT): competence, relatedness, and autonomy. The goal of this protocol is to describe the design of a study aiming to evaluate the effectiveness of a classroom-based program based on SDT components promoting a prosocial classroom climate.MethodsA cluster randomized controlled trial (RCT) will be conducted to examine the effectiveness of the classroom-based program Meaningful Roles, aiming to improve prosocial classroom climate through increasing children’s intrinsic prosocial motivation, stimulated by increasing social autonomy, social competence, and social relatedness. A multi-informant (i.e., children, teachers, and school leaders) and multi-method (i.e., questionnaires and focus groups) approach will be used to assess primary outcomes (i.e., prosocial behavior, intrinsic (prosocial) motivation, social autonomy, social competence, and social relatedness) and secondary outcomes (i.e., school wellbeing, social position, bullying, victimization, and civic skills), as well as moderators (i.e., working elements, child, teacher, school, and program characteristics, and program integrity).DiscussionThe current study will provide information on the effectiveness of a classroom-based program promoting a prosocial classroom climate. It is of crucial importance that the school environment can provide a positive, prosocial classroom climate in which children feel safe and can achieve optimal social and academic competence and wellbeing.Trial registrationClinicalTrials (NCT05891067).

Risk factors for violence among female forensic inpatients with schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is associated with a heightened risk of violent behavior. However, conclusions on the nature of this relationship remain inconclusive. Equally, the empirical evidence on female patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) is strongly underrepresented. For this purpose, the first aim of the present retrospective follow-up study was to determine the risk factors of violence in a sample of 99 female SSD patients discharged from forensic psychiatric treatment between 2001 and 2017, using three different measures of violence at varying time points (i.e., violent index offense, inpatient violence, and violent recidivism). Potential risk factors were retrieved from the relevant literature on SSD as well as two violence risk assessment instruments (i.e., HCR-20 V3, FAM). Further, we aimed to assess the predictive validity of the HCR-20 V3 in terms of violent recidivism and evaluate the incremental validity of the FAM as a supplementary gender-responsive assessment. The given results indicate strong heterogeneity between the assessed violence groups in terms of risk factors. Particularly, violence during the index offense was related to psychotic symptoms while inpatient violence was associated with affective and behavioral instability as well as violent ideation/intent, psychotic symptoms, and non-responsiveness to treatment. Lastly, violent recidivism was related to non-compliance, cognitive instability, lack of insight, childhood antisocial behavior, and poverty. Further, the application of the HCR-20 V3 resulted in moderate predictive accuracy (AUC = 0.695), while the supplementary assessment of the FAM did not add any incremental validity. This article provides important insights into the risk factors of violence among female SSD patients while highlighting the importance of differentiating between various forms of violence. Equally, it substitutes the existing evidence on violence risk assessment in female offenders with SSD.

High resting heart rate protects against the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior: a birth cohort study.

Although social influences have been identified that protect against the intergenerational transmission of antisocial behavior, there has been no prior research on biological protective factors. This study examines whether high resting heart rate may be one such factor. Resting heart rate was measured in 405 children of parents from a birth cohort, together with antisocial behavior in both the parent and the child. Children who were not antisocial, but had a parent high on antisocial behavior, had higher resting heart rates than all three other parent-child antisocial behavior groupings. Results withstood control for age, gender, ethnicity, body mass index, and psychosocial adversity. Robustness checks confirmed these results. Findings are the first to identify a biological protective factor against the intergenerational transmission of childhood antisocial behavior.

The bidirectional effects of antisocial behavior, anxiety, and trauma exposure: Implications for our understanding of the development of callous–unemotional traits.

The association of anxiety and trauma with antisocial behavior in children and adolescents has long been the focus of research, and more recently this area of research has become critical to theories of the development of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. Research suggests those with elevated CU traits and anxiety (i.e., secondary CU variant) seem to show more severe externalizing behaviors and are more likely to show histories of trauma, compared to those with elevated CU and low anxiety (i.e., primary CU variant). These findings have typically been interpreted as being indicative of distinct etiological pathways to the development of CU traits. We test an alternative explanation that the higher rates of anxiety and trauma exposure in some youth with elevated CU traits are largely a consequence of their higher levels of antisocial behavior. The current study recruited a sample of 1,216 justice-involved adolescents (Mage = 15.28, SD = 1.28) from three distinct regions of the United States, who were assessed at 6, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48, and 60 months following their first arrest. Using random-intercept cross-lagged models, both antisocial behavior and CU traits predicted changes in future anxiety and CU traits predicted increases in future victimization. Further, using longitudinal parallel mediation models, antisocial and aggressive behavior largely accounted for the predictive association between CU traits and anxiety and CU traits and victimization. These results support a model in which anxiety and trauma histories may be a marker of the severity of antisocial behavior displayed by youth with elevated CU traits. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Through the looking glass: the neural basis of self-concept in young adults with antisocial trajectories.

Self-concept is shaped by social experiences, but it is not yet well understood how the neural and behavioral development of self-concept is influenced by a history of antisocial behavior. In this pre-registered study, we examined neural responses to self-evaluations in young adults who engaged with antisocial behavior in childhood and either desisted or persisted in antisocial behavior. A self-concept task was performed by 94 young adults (age range 18-30 years). During the task, participants with a persistent or desistent antisocial trajectory (n = 54) and typically developing young adults (n = 40) rated whether positive and negative traits in different domains (prosocial and physical) described themselves. We examined both the effects of a history of antisocial behavior as well as current heterogeneity in psychopathic traits on self-concept appraisal and its neural underpinnings. Participants endorsed more positive trait statements than negative across domains, which did not differ between antisocial-history groups. However, current psychopathic traits were negatively associated with prosocial self-concept and medial prefrontal cortex activity during self-evaluation. Together, these findings suggest that antisocial tendencies might indeed be reflected in self-concept development of young adults, specifically in the prosocial domain.

Childhood Maltreatment, Personality Disorder, and Criminal Behaviours

Childhood trauma can affect children throughout their lives. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are highly associated with greater future crime risk. A list of adverse effects underlying illness, behavioral disorders, suicide risk, substance abuse, and mental health problems may also accompany in the future. This article also describes the association between adverse personality development caused by childhood trauma and antisocial behavior and violent criminal behavior, mainly on research on borderline personality disorder (BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD). The results show that childhood abuse, personality disorders, and criminal tendencies are inextricably linked. To reduce the crime rate and the recurrence of social harmony, it is necessary to take effective and timely psychotherapy and drug intervention for children when accidental traumatic events or adverse experiences occur. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and trauma crisis intervention can help alleviate the subsequent deterioration of some behavioral and mental disorders.

Executive (dys)functions and ODD and CD: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Precursors of antisocial behavior in children may be associated with neuropsychological deficits, namely in executive functions (EF). The main objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to synthesize evidence of the relation between EF performance and early manifestations of antisocial behavior in children and adolescents. The procedures of this systematic review and meta-analysis were based on the PRISMA recommendations. The review was based on a systematic search in the EBSCOhost and Pubmed databases. Fifty studies were included in this review, 37 of which contributed with data for meta-analysis. All studies examined the possible relation between the EF measures and behavior problems in childhood and adolescence. Meta-analytical procedures were performed, and the overall effect size was calculated from random-effect models, using the Comprehensive Meta-Analysis software. A substantial part of the studies report EF deficits in children and adolescents who present behavior problems, revealing that these deficits are already present in youth, long before being associated with antisocial behavior in adults, especially when in comorbidity with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Specifically, typical controls (TC) performed significantly better than disruptive behavior disorders (DBD) groups on measures of overall EF, g = -.35, 95% CI [-0.48, -0.22], p < .001. Similar results were found for working memory, g = -.26, 95% CI [-0.45, -0.07], p < .001, cognitive inhibition, g = -.30, 95% CI [-0.57, -0.04], p = .03, behavioral inhibition, g = -.45, 95% CI [-0.71, -0.19], p = .001, and cognitive flexibility (tests scores), g = -.31, 95% CI [-0.60, -0.02], p = .04. Comparing DBD + ADHD participants with TC, no significant differences were found, either for overall EF or for each dimension. Finally, DBD participants performed better than DBD + ADHD participants on measures of overall EF, g = .20, 95% CI [0.08, 0.33], p = .002. These findings are in line with neuropsychological theories arguing that executive dysfunctions may interfere with the children's and/or adolescents' ability to control their own conduct, in order to inhibit inappropriate behaviors in favor of the prosocial ones. This review and meta-analysis also identify the main characteristics and potential limitations of the existing studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Coherence Dynamics of EEG Rhythms during Watching Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Children of an Early Age

Coherence Dynamics of EEG Rhythms during Watching Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Children of an Early Age

Assessing social competence and antisocial behaviors in children: item response theory analysis of the home and community social behavior scales

BackgroundThe Home and Community Social Behavior Scales (HCSBS) is a rating scale that assesses social competence and antisocial behavior among children and youths between ages 5–18. The present study aimed to investigate the psychometric properties of the HCSBS by applying item response theory (IRT).MethodsThe HCSBS was completed by parents of 551 Norwegian children refereed to three independent interventions towards problem behaviors. Data used in this study was collected before the interventions started. IRT was carried out in R version 4.0.0 to investigate HCSBS items, subscales and main scales.ResultsThe results showed that the two-dimensional IRT models for social competence and antisocial behavior were the most appropriate. The measurement precision of the scales was high for a large range of the latent spectrum, and estimated reliabilities were satisfactory. Model evaluations indicated that the overall model fit for the scales were acceptable, but some misfit existed with respect to specific item pairs.ConclusionThe results indicate that the HCSBS is a reliable measurement instrument although there is still a potential for improvement by revising some of the items.

Parent training programs for preventing and treating antisocial behavior in children and adolescents: A comprehensive meta-analysis of international studies

This article presents a comprehensive meta-analysis of international studies on the effects of parent training programs (PTP) on antisocial behavior (ASB) in children and adolescents. From systematic literature searches of 7219 reports, we finally selected 239 eligible reports with 241 independent studies and 279 comparisons between a program and a control condition up to the publication year 2020. Although most interventions were based on a cognitive-behavioral approach, we also found a great variety of programs and applications. Overall, the mean effect for PTP was positive for parent/family and ASB outcomes ( d = 0.46 and d = 0.47, respectively using the random effect model at postintervention). We also found higher effects on more proximal parental outcomes such as parental stress, parental competencies, and parent–child interaction/relation. However, more distal outcomes such as marital satisfaction or parent psychopathology revealed lower effect sizes. In addition, the link between changes in parental/family outcomes and changes in ASB was significant across several outcome types, thus confirming the general causal assumption of PTP. Postintervention effects were stable across several moderators, although clinical applications revealed slightly higher effect sizes than preventive applications. Several findings cast some doubt on these generally positive results: For example, effect sizes decreased considerably in not only short- (3 to 12 months) but also especially long-term follow ups (12 months or more), and the vast majority of outcome assessments stemmed from parent ratings. Finally, we found a clear negative connection between sample and effect size. Whether this is due to publication bias or indicates a better implementation quality in smaller studies remains an open question. • Reviews the results of more than 240 international studies evaluating parent training programs for preventing and treating antisocial behavior problems • Parents training programs showed medium size effectiveness in preventing and treating antisocial behavior problems • The promotion of parental competences are clearly linked to changes in antisocial behavior problems • Effects of parent training programs are not stable. • Long-term effects are rather small.

Coherence Dynamics in the EEG Rhythms during the Observation of Pro- and Antisocial Behavior in Children at an Early Age

In children aged 17–43 months (mean age 31 months), who differently evaluated pro- and antisocial actions performed by puppet characters (groups with high and low indices of moral evaluation – IME), there have been revealed the group-specific changes in the coherence of EEG activity in each group. In high IME children, the observation of a prosocial action facilitated intrahemispheric interactions in the α-frequency range. In the low IME group, changes in α-rhythm coherence were multidirectional. In the high IME group, the situation of decision making on how to distribute the reward between the two characters who demonstrated either pro- or antisocial behavior evoked an increase in α-activity coherence between the frontal, central, parietal and occipital regions in the right hemisphere. In the low IME children, on the contrary, it decreased. No significant modulations of the EEG coherence in θ-frequency range have been revealed. For β-activity, significant modulations were found only in children with low IME. The obtained findings are discussed in the context of the functionality of the brain control systems and the role of intrahemispheric cortical interconnections in moral behavior organization.

The efficacy of physical activity interventions in reducing antisocial behavior: a meta-analytic review

AbstractObjectivesThis systematic review and meta-analysis examines the efficacy of physical activity interventions in the reduction of antisocial behavior in children and adults. Several possible moderators, including study design, sample characteristics (age, proportion male, and sample type), control group, and outcome characteristics (type of activity, duration, frequency), were also investigated.MethodsA literature search was performed in the following databases: PubMed, Ebsco/SportDiscus, Ebsco/APA PsycINFO, Ebsco/ERIC, Ebsco/Criminal Justice Abstracts, Embase.com, and Clarivate Analytics/Web of Science Core Collection from inception to June 2021. Studies were eligible if they reviewed the effect of chronic physical activity interventions on antisocial behavior compared to wait-list, no-exercise, or attention control samples. The following studies were excluded: animal studies, studies reporting on acute exercise, studies including yoga or mindfulness as the sole measure of physical activity, and studies including substance (ab)use and/or smoking as the only outcome measure. A random effects model was used to calculate pooled effect sizes. The risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool (version 2).ResultsThe search yielded 29 studies, of which 20 were included in the meta-analysis. Results indicate a significant small-to-medium effect (g = − 0.26) with a 95% confidence interval ranging from − 0.48 to − 0.04 in favor of physical activity interventions. Significant moderators included type of control group, type of physical activity, and type of antisocial behavior, with larger effect sizes for comparisons with inactive control groups (g = − 0.31), interventions containing walking, jogging, or running as the main type of physical activity (g = − 0.87), and anger/hostility as an antisocial outcome measure (g = − 0.42).ConclusionsPhysical activity interventions may be a promising way to reduce antisocial behavior in children and adults. However, due to the overall high risk of bias in the included studies, more sound evaluation research is needed to better understand the functioning and to improve the possible implementation of physical activity interventions.

A Narrative Review about Prosocial and Antisocial Behavior in Childhood: The Relationship with Shame and Moral Development.

We conducted a literature review aimed at identifying the origins of shame as well as its effects on moral development, especially in terms of behavioral outcomes, and we reflected on the practical implications of our findings. We explored the role of shame in moral development through cultural differences and parental influences, collecting evidence of psychopathological consequences of primary moral emotion dysregulation. These studies showed a dichotomous feature of shame, as a prosocial behavior enhancer in morally relevant situations and, simultaneously, a risk factor for aggressive and antisocial behaviors on other occasions. Dysregulated shame leads to maladaptive interpersonal behaviors, which could evolve towards psychopathological paths. Therefore, an integrated intervention is recommended in children with emotional/behavioral problems.

Prevention of antisocial behavior in secondary school students

Antisocial behavior in children are manifestationsthatgobeyondtheboundaries of normalcy at a certaintime of development, they are a set of behaviors, which are manifested in thefamily, schooland social environment. It isknownthat it iseasiertopreventthantotreat, so in thisarticlewewill focus on theprevention of behavioralproblems in theschoolenvironment, highlightingsomewaystoprevent antisocial behavior in highschoolstudents.

Facial reactions to emotional films in young children with conduct problems and varying levels of callous-unemotional traits.

Elevated levels of callous-unemotional (CU) traits have proven useful for identifying a distinct subgroup of children whose conduct problems (CP) are early emerging, severe, persistent, and underpinned by aberrant emotional processing. The early childhood emotional experiences and expressions of CP subtypes are poorly understood, despite their importance to understanding the problematic attachments and atypical social affiliation experienced by children with elevated CU traits. The current study aimed to test for differences in facial emotional reactions to mood-inducing film clips in children with CP and varying levels of CU traits. We compared facial emotional reactions during a developmentally appropriate mood induction task in a mixed-sex sample of clinic-referred preschool children (Mage = 3.64 years, SD = 0.63, 66.9% male) classified as CP with elevated levels of CU traits (CP + CU; n = 25) versus low CU traits (CP-only; n = 47), and typically developing children (TD; n = 28). Relative to TD children, children with clinical CP showed less congruent and more incongruent facial emotional expressions to sad and happy film clips, controlling for child sex, age, and ethnicity. Consistent with older samples, young children with CP show atypical facial emotional expressions in response to positive and negative emotional stimuli. Findings have implications for developmental models of childhood antisocial behavior and can inform the development of targeted interventions.