Self-reported trauma, cortisol levels, and aggression in psychopathic and non-psychopathic prison inmates

The relationship between self-reported traumatic childhood experiences, cortisol levels, aggression, and psychopathy was investigated in prison inmates (n=47) and healthy controls (n=27). Besides questionnaires, a brief salivary diurnal profile was measured. Results show that criminals (both psychop...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biological psychology 2008-04, Vol.78 (1), p.75-86
Main Authors: Cima, Maaike, Smeets, Tom, Jelicic, Marko
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Adult
Adult and adolescent clinical studies
Aggression
Analysis of Variance
Antisocial Personality Disorder - metabolism
Antisocial Personality Disorder - psychology
Behavioral psychophysiology
Biological and medical sciences
Child Abuse - psychology
Circadian Rhythm
Cortisol
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Humans
Hydrocortisone - metabolism
Male
Medical sciences
Personality disorders
Personality Inventory
Prisoners - psychology
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychology. Psychophysiology
Psychometrics
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychopathy
Radioimmunoassay
Self-Assessment
Self-reported trauma
Surveys and Questionnaires
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Summary:The relationship between self-reported traumatic childhood experiences, cortisol levels, aggression, and psychopathy was investigated in prison inmates (n=47) and healthy controls (n=27). Besides questionnaires, a brief salivary diurnal profile was measured. Results show that criminals (both psychopaths and non-psychopaths) demonstrate more traumatic childhood experiences than the control group. Within the group of criminals, psychopaths showed the lowest diurnal cortisol concentrations, whereas the non-psychopaths demonstrated highest daily average cortisol (DAC) scores. High levels of aggression were related to traumatic childhood experiences in non-psychopaths and control participants, but not in psychopaths. Although psychopathic offenders demonstrated low levels of cortisol, high levels of childhood traumatic experiences and high levels of aggression, cortisol was not a mediating factor between childhood traumatic experiences and aggression. Implications of the finding that psychopathic offenders displayed lower and non-psychopaths showed higher daily cortisol levels are discussed.
ISSN:0301-0511
1873-6246
DOI:10.1016/j.biopsycho.2007.12.011