Does Affective Theory of Mind Contribute to Proactive Aggression in Boys with Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Tendencies?
Details
Serval ID
serval:BIB_6E3738B4C324
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Institution
Title
Does Affective Theory of Mind Contribute to Proactive Aggression in Boys with Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Tendencies?
Journal
Child psychiatry and human development
ISSN
1573-3327
ISSN-L
0009-398X
Publication state
Published
Issued date
12/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
49
Number
6
Pages
906-916
Language
english
Notes
Publication types: Journal Article
Publication Status: ppublish
Publication Status: ppublish
Abstract
Adolescent psychopathic tendencies are associated with phenotypic increases in proactive aggression. However, the extent to which an understanding of others' affective mental states, or affective theory of mind (ToM), contributes to proactive aggression remains unknown. We examined how performance on a well-known test of affective ToM, based on cropped images of the eye region, contributes to reactive and proactive types of aggression in a mixed ethnicity sample of 80 incarcerated adolescent boys. A hierarchical regression model showed that affective ToM predicted proactive aggression over and above the influence of clinically rated psychopathic tendencies. Importantly, affective ToM was unrelated to reactive aggression. Our results suggest that being able to recognize others' affective mental states may be an important factor in aggressing against others for personal gain. These findings have implications for interventions designed to enhance ToM in youth with conduct problems.
Keywords
Adolescent, Aggression/psychology, Antisocial Personality Disorder/psychology, Conduct Disorder/psychology, Emotions/physiology, Humans, Male, Problem Behavior/psychology, Theory of Mind, Adolescence, Conduct disorder, Personality disorder, Psychopathy, Violence
Pubmed
Web of science
Publisher's website
Open Access
Yes
Create date
27/04/2018 11:45
Last modification date
08/08/2024 7:35