NCJ Number
228592
Journal
Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 36 Issue: 11 Dated: November 2009 Pages: 1188-1202
Date Published
November 2009
Length
15 pages
Annotation
This study investigated the association between psychopathic tendencies, autistic traits, and emotion attribution.
Abstract
This study found substantial independence of genetic and nonshared environmental influences related to psychopathic tendencies. The modes' shared environmental influences contributing to psychopathic tendencies were entirely shared with autistic traits and made a substantial contribution to the phenotypic association between the two. Emotion attribution showed very modest heritable influences, but did not show specific associations with either psychopathic tendencies or autistic traits. It does not appear to be a promising endophenotype measure for psychopathic tendencies or autistic traits. No sex differences were observed for the aetiology in any of the associations reported in this study. Shared environmental influences for psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits overlapped completely and accounted for nearly half of the phenotypic relationship between the two traits. Emotion attribution ability was negatively associated to both psychopathic tendencies and autistic traits; most of the association was driven by common genetic influences in both cases. No sex differences were found for the aetiology of the associations investigated in this study. Data were collected from 642 twin pairs (1,284 individuals) by the Twins Early Development Study in England and Wales between 1994 and 1996. Tables, figure, notes, and references