Moral Development and Parent Behavior Antecedents in Adolescent Psychopaths

Summary Thirty psychopathic and 30 nonpsychopathic delinquents were compared with one another on level of moral development as assessed by the Kohlberg Interview, and psychopaths were found to exhibit a lower level of moral development. Analysis of subjects' perceptions of the behavior of their parents disclosed that psychopaths, as against nonpsychopathic delinquents, saw their fathers as having been less nurturant toward them and as having given them less praise. The mothers of psychopaths were reported to have demanded less achievement of their sons than the mothers of nonpsychopathic delinquents.