Second-to-Fourth Digit Ratio and Impulsivity: A Comparison between Offenders and Nonoffenders

Hanoch, Yaniv; Gummerum, Michaela; Rolison, Jonathan J.

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047140

Cited by 32 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Other authors have already found a relationship between low educational level and juvenile delinquency. 18,27 Nevertheless, when ANCOVA was carried out taking into account the differences in years of schooling between the two groups, the difference in mean PCL-R scores remained statistically significant (p , 0.01). Hence, we can conclude that psychopathic traits assessed by PCL-R were independent from educational level at the f 0.05 significance level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Psychopathic traits in young offenders vs. non-offenders in similar socioeconomic condition

Castellana

Barros²,

Serafim

et al. 2014

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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Objective: To analyze the differences in psychopathic traits between offender and non-offender youths with similar socioeconomic backgrounds. Method: The Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) scale was used to identify whether 39 young offenders with no history of mental disorders or criteria for psychopathy exhibited differences in its total score, and specifically for factor 1 or factor 2 of this scale, when compared with 32 other young people, living in similar socioeconomic conditions, who had not committed offenses. Results: We observed statistically significant between-group differences (p , 0.01) in mean PCL-R scores, with a mean score of 13.4 in the offender group vs. 2.1 in the non-offender group. We also detected significant between-group differences when we analyzed mean factor 1 (p , 0.01) and factor 2 (p , 0.01) scores separately. Although the groups exhibited statistically significant difference in educational attainment, between-group comparison of mean PCL-R scores controlling for educational attainment by analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) showed that the difference in PCL-R scores remained statistically significant (p , 0.01). Conclusions: We conclude that, in this sample, the presence of both primary (interpersonal/affective characteristics) and secondary (lifestyle/antisocial behavior) psychopathic traits differed between offender and non-offender youths, even when excluding psychopathy and other mental disorders from the assessments. These results suggest a need for wide-ranging interventions, not restricted to socioeconomic aspects, for the management of juvenile delinquency.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 95%

Psychopathic traits in young offenders vs. non-offenders in similar socioeconomic condition

Castellana

Barros²,

Serafim

et al. 2014

Rev. Bras. Psiquiatr.

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“…Several studies have established a link between personality and risk taking (Breivik, ; Levenson, ; Nicholson, Soane, Fenton‐O'Creevy, & Willman, ; Zuckerman & Kuhlman, ). Moreover, male prisoners and nonprisoners seem to differ in personality characteristics, with prisoners being more impulsive than nonprisoners (Hanoch et al, ; Rolison, Hanoch, & Gummerum, ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous studies have found that prisoners are more likely to engage in substance abuse, unsafe sex, and gambling than are nonprisoners (Fazel, Bains, & Doll, ; Frost & Tchertkov, ; Hanoch & Gummerum, ; Lahn, ). They also have higher levels of sensation seeking (Wilson & Daly, ) and impulsivity (Hanoch, Gummerum, & Rolison, ), characteristics that are related to risk taking. In addition, prisoners score higher on instruments specifically developed to measure the tendency to take risks.…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Interestingly, testosterone levels may also mediate risk‐taking differences in the context of crime. For instance, the second to fourth digit ratio, a marker of exposure to testosterone, is lower in male offenders than nonoffenders, indicating higher testosterone levels in offenders (Hanoch et al, ). Moreover, testosterone has been linked to crime and prison violence in both men and women (Dabbs, Carr, Frady, & Riad, ; Dabbs & Hargrove, ; Dabbs, Ruback, Frady, Hopper, & Sgoutas, ).…”

Section: The Present Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Risk‐Taking Tendencies in Prisoners and Nonprisoners: Does Gender Matter?

Wichary

Pachur

2015

Behavioral Decision Making

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Several investigations have found that prisoners are more likely than nonprisoners to engage in risky behavior, which may contribute to their propensity to commit criminal offenses. However, this research has been limited by an almost exclusive focus on male samples. Given the established link between risk taking and gender, it is thus unclear how findings on the risk-taking propensities of prisoners also hold in women. The present study uses both a self-report questionnaire (Domain-Specific Risk Taking scale, DOSPERT) and a behavioral task (Balloon Analogue Risk Task, BART) to investigate risk-taking tendencies in a Chinese prisoner group and a nonprisoner control group with balanced gender proportions. Across both genders, prisoners both indicated a higher risk-taking tendency on the DOSPERT and showed more risktaking behavior on the BART than did nonprisoners. Importantly, the differences were considerably more pronounced in women than in men. Relative to nonprisoners, gender differences in risk taking were substantially smaller, or even reversed, in prisoners. Computational modeling of respondents' behavior in the BART revealed that the prisoners had higher reward sensitivity and lower response consistency than the nonprisoners; these differences were again more pronounced among women. Our results suggest that previous studies based primarily on male prisoners may have underestimated differences in risk taking between prisoners and nonprisoners, and that female prisoners may represent an even more extreme subpopulation than male prisoners.

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“…208-213;Klinesmith, Kasser, & McAndrew, 2006). Furthermore, studies based on the 2D:4D biomarker have implicated prenatal brain exposure to high testosterone as a predictor of aggression (Bailey & Hurd, 2005;Hönekopp & Watson, 2011;Trivers, Manning, & Jacobson, 2006) as well as various forms of criminality Hanoch, Gummerum, & Rolison, 2012;.…”

Section: Perinatal and Postpubertal Effects Of Androgensmentioning

confidence: 99%