sherbie asked this question on 5/3/2000:

wendy i am a forensics major at PGCC in Maryland, and i was just curious about anti-social behavior in the youth of children that predisposes them to violent behaviors later in adulthood. :0) sherbie

avengingangel777 gave this response on 5/3/2000:

Rampant anti-social behaviours in youth are clearly already indicative of a child becoming a future psychopath/sociopath in general, but I believe it is a gradual process of sorts. First of all the child will have behavioural problems at home, will be out of control at an early age, and most often comes from a family where the father was absent or abusive. Often the father is an alcoholic and/or substance abuser, and there may be sexual abuse by one or both parents. This is the first indication of something seriousely wrong. At school, the child will be unable to follow any rules and will enjoy bending them as he pleases or trying to be the center of attention by being "different" or "deviant", which at first isn't apparently that horrific, but eventually, their behaviours worsen, and end up being the "bad" kids, and will either be expelled or drop out. The reaction from the student will be that of unconcern, and they have no shame about it, neither do they feel that low-achievement is wrong -- rather, they might even brag about it, since the anti-social, in general, believes that real accomplishments are actions that go against the "norms" of society. From what I've read and also observed in the real world, the anti-social child builds up his grandiose self by these anti-social acts. He's the cool cat who thinks he's doing something "great" everytime he beats up someone who's bigger than he is, etc. This is why they are often referred to as morally insane, not to mention that punishment doesn't seem to deter them from their actions. Besides skipping school,and most likely being expelled/dropping out, the child will also have a pattern of bullying others; sometimes this could be because the child has been bullied himself and/or growing up in a family environment of abuse. Some of them are the "freaks" and "rejects" at school, and so they begin to associate with other rejected children (ie anti-socials). The child will also experiment earlier than his peers with drugs of all kinds, and will probably be drinking and smoking at an early age, often at around 11 or 12 years of age, and the drinking will be a life-long problem for most, as well as smoking and drugs. They will also be sexually active very early on, most often around 12-14 years, and their sexual activities will be varied and often of a perverse nature, which the young psychopath will again actually be quite proud of. Some anti-social childred will also be diagnosed with ADD and hyperactivity disorder. Besides all the problems at school and his messed-up personal life, the anti-social child will have major problems at home. He will often run-away, steal from parents, etc. He will also steal, in general, and take part in destructive behaviours such as destroying property. Some of these behaviours are seen as "normal" in certain areas, most frequently in low-income areas, lower-middle class/low-class, or ghettos, where young children learn early on to vent their anti-social acts as a group. Often these behaviours are reckless destruction of property, vandalism, etc. What is most troubling, as I've observed, is the fact that the anti-social thinks these behaviours are "normal." Most of them will also develop a hatred of more affluent children and the so-called middle/upper class "yuppie"(which we call the normal)society --the anti-social child will learn early on, that these are the people who deserve to be exploited, and that their rules are the rules that one should break, not to mention, the anti-social will also develop a "morally insane" attitude, in that anything which to them is not deviant or anti-social is not normal for them. They will believe that deviance is actually the norm, which propels them to commit more and more anti-social acts. Association with other "bad" kids (ie, other anti-socials), is the predominating factor in what makes an anti-social child become full-fledged psychopathic. Later on, while in high school, (if he makes it that far), or if he works at a menial job after being kicked out/dropping out of high school, the anti-social/psychopath will have a history of stealing things from the workplace, but not always getting caught, as well as drifting from job to job. Once again, every anti-social act is something that the individual will brag about, and this is the basic pattern of their lives. I don't know if I answered your question properly, if there is anything I need to clarify or add on, please let me know.

sherbie asked this follow-up question on 5/3/2000:

wendy: thank you for responding to my question.. however, i feel even more confused now than when i started. your response gave me the impression that anti-social children are bullies.. well i can understand that if they feel inferior they must create a grandiose personality to make up for what they feel is lacking: however, the anti-social personalities that i am more interested in you only commented in one line addressing them as "freaks" or "geeks"... these are the ones that i have seen recurring in the serial killer profiles, and most of the perpetrators of the many school- shootings (ie Columbine). But your answer was very helpful, and i appreciate the info. :0) sherbie

avengingangel777 gave this response on 5/4/2000:

I received an email asking me if I wished to respond to a follow-up -- and yes, I am sorry because I do realize it is confusing and I wasn't sure if my answer was satisfactory. I don't really know what exactly will cause an anti-social child to develop into a serial killer or outright violent psychopath, which I failed to mention in my post. I don't really study the serial killer types, but I'm working on it, although I do know for one that most people are shocked about this type of psychopath's dark-side, because they often hide it so well. I also forget to mention cruelty to animals and humans as another major aspect, but you're right when you mentioned about the killers at Columbine, even their own parents claimed they didn't know what set their children off. I wish I could say , but I suppose this question is beyond me. I suppose we'll never really know what exactly can set a psychopathic person off, and since it's hard to tell who is a psychopath out in the wide-world, this makes it even more frightening.

The average rating for this answer is 4.

sherbie rated this answer a 4.