Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-4hvwz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-26T19:04:43.888Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Father–Son Resemblances in Aggressive and Antisocial Behaviour

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Mark A. Stewart
Affiliation:
The Ida P. Haller Professor of Child Psychiatry, University of Iowa
C. Susan deBlois
Affiliation:
University of Iowa University of Iowa, Hospital and Clinics Department of Psychiatry, 500 Newton Road, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA

Summary

At a child psychiatry clinic 122 boys were scored on scales of aggressiveness, noncompliance and antisocial behaviour. Their biological fathers were scored on aggressiveness and antisocial behaviour. The fathers' scores were modestly but significantly correlated with those of their sons. The correlations were also computed separately for the 64 boys whose biological fathers were no longer in the home and for the 58 whose fathers had stayed. Father–son resemblances for the latter group were considerably higher than those observed in the whole sample, and for the father-absent group were insignificant.

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © 1983 The Royal College of Psychiatrists 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 3rd Ed. (1980) Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association.Google Scholar
Bandura, A. (1973) Aggression, A Social Learning Analysis. Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.Google Scholar
Behar, D. & Stewart, M. A. (1982) Aggressive conduct disorder of children. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 65, 210–20.Google Scholar
Bohman, M. (1971) A comparative study of adopted children, foster children and children in their biological environment born after undesired pregnancies. Acta Paediatrica, Supplement 221, 538.Google Scholar
Cadoret, R. J. (1978) Psychopathology in adopted-away offspring of biologic parents with antisocial behavior. Archives of General Psychiatry, 35, 176–84.Google Scholar
Cadoret, R. J., Cunningham, L., Loftus, R. & Edwards, J. (1975) Studies of adoptees from psychiatrically disturbed biologic parents. Journal of Pediatrics, 87, 301–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Cadoret, R. J. & Gath, A. (1980) Biologic correlates of hyperactivity: evidence for a genetic factor. In: Human Functioning in Longitudinal Perspective (eds. S. Sells, M. Roff, J. Strauss and W. Pollin). Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Christiansen, K. O. (1977) A preliminary study of criminality in twins. In: Biosocial Bases Of Criminal Behavior (eds. S. Mednick and K. Christiansen). New York: Gardner Press.Google Scholar
Coppen, A., Cowie, V. & Slater, E. (1965) Familial aspects of “Neuroticism” and “Extroversion”. British Journal of Psychiatry, 111, 7083.Google Scholar
Crowe, R. R. (1974) An adoption study of antisocial personality. Archives of General Psychiatry, 31, 785–91.Google Scholar
deBlois, C. S. & Stewart, M. A. (1980) Aggressiveness and antisocial behavior in children: their relationships to other dimensions of behavior. Research Communications in Psychology, Psychiatry and Behavior, 5, 303–12.Google Scholar
deBlois, C. S. & Stewart, M. A. (1982) Marital histories of women whose first husbands were alcoholic or antisocial. British Journal of Addiction (in press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gersten, J. C., Langner, T. S., Eisenberg, J. G., Simcha-Fagan, O. & McCarthy, E. D. (1976) Stability and change in types of behavioral disturbance of children and adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 4, 111–27.Google Scholar
Glueck, S. & Glueck, E. (1950) Unraveling Juvenile Delinquency. New York: The Commonwealth Fund.Google Scholar
Hewitt, L. E. & Jenkins, R. L. (1946) Fundamental Patterns of Maladjustment. Springfield: State of Illinois.Google Scholar
Hill, M. S. & Hill, R. N. (1973) Hereditary influence on the normal personality using the MMPI. I. Age-corrected parent-offspring resemblances. Behavioral Genetics, 3, 133–44.Google Scholar
Hutchings, B. Mednick, S. A. (1977) Criminality in adoptees and their adoptive and biological parents: a pilot study. In: Biosocial Bases of Criminal Behavior (eds. S. Mednick and K. Christiansen). New York: Gardner Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, H. (1954) Deprived Children. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
McCord, W., McCord, J. & Howard, A. (1961) Familial correlates of aggression in nondeliquent male children. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 62, 7993.Google Scholar
Nie, N. H., Hull, C. H., Jenkins, J. G., Steinbrenner, K. & Bent, D. H. (1975) Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
O'Connor, M., Foch, T., Sherry, T. & Plomin, R. (1980) A twin study of specific behavioral problems of socialization as viewed by parents. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 8, 189–99.Google Scholar
Olweus, D. (1979) Stability of aggressive reaction patterns in males: a review. Psychological Bulletin, 86, 852–75.Google Scholar
Osborn, S. G. & West, D. J. (1979) Conviction records of fathers and sons compared. British Journal of Crimin ology, 19, 120–33.Google Scholar
Patterson, G. R. (1974) A basis for identifying stimuli which control behaviors in natural settings. Child Development, 45, 900–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quay, H. C. (1977) Measuring dimensions of deviant behavior: the Behavior Problem Checklist. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 5, 277–89.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Robins, L. N. (1966) Deviant Children Grown Up. Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1966) Children of Sick Parents. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Rutter, M. (1971) Parent–child separation: psychological effects on the children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 12, 233–60.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J. & Whitmore, K. (1970) Education, Health and Behavior. London: Longmans.Google Scholar
Sears, R. R., Maccoby, E. E. & Levin, H. (1957) Patterns of Child Rearing. Evanston, Illinois: Row, Peterson.Google Scholar
Stewart, M. A. & deBlois, C. S. (1981) Wife abuse among families attending a child psychiatry clinic. Journal of the American Academy of Child Psychiatry, 20, 845–62.Google Scholar
Stewart, M. A., deBlois, C. S. & Cummings, C. (1980) Psychiatric disorder in the parents of hyperactive boys and those with conduct disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 21, 283–92.Google Scholar
Stewart, M. A., Cummings, C., Singer, S. & deBlois, C. S. (1981) The overlap between hyperactive and unsocialized aggressive children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 22, 3545.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. A. (1953) A personality scale of manifest anxiety. Journal of Abnormal Social Psychology, 48, 285–90.Google Scholar
West, D. J. & Farrington, D. P. (1973) Who Becomes Delinquent? London: Heinfeemann.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.