Exploring Psychological Explanations of Criminal Behaviour

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Recommended: Juvenile delinquency and family size

It has been long the interest of psychologists in understanding the factors that determine psychopathy (Skeem et al., 2011). Family factors, whether they being genetic or environmental, have always been classified preponderant in the development of psychopathy (Millon et al., 2002, cited in Hildebrand, 2004).

Researchers have looked and established that psychopaths are at a higher risk to be violent offenders than normal population (Theodorakis, 2013). Likewise, researchers have demonstrated that among family factors, a large number of children in the family was the strongest predictor of offending (Farrington et al., 2006).

This study aims to explore whether a large family size is a contributing factor to the development of psychopathy and offending.

1.1 The research problem

A review of literature shows that there is very little research and evidence as regards to the correlation between large family size and psychopathy (Farrington et al., 2006). Thus, the research problem is to investigate the extent large family size impacts the development of psychopathy.

1.2 The purpose of the study

The purpose of the study is to determine whether family size, previously acknowledged having an effect on delinquency, likewise exerts an impact on the development of psychopathy. There is very little and very limited research that speaks to this theory, thereafter the conduction of this study will allow to further people’s understanding of the causes or what triggers psychopathy and violent offending and what can be done to prevent it.

1.3 The objectives of the study

Taking into account the above reasoning, three research hypotheses were formulated.

Hypothesis 1: There will be a significant positive relationship between ...

... middle of paper ...

..., C.J., Lilienfeld, S.O. (2011). Psychopathic Personality: Bridging the Gap Between Scientific Evidence and Public Policy.Psychological Science in the Public Interest. 12 (3) 95-162. doi: 10.1177/1529100611426706 http://pspi.sagepub.com.

- Theodorakis, N. (2013). Psychopathy and its relationship to criminal behaviour . IALS Student Law Review. 1 (1) 47-56. Retrieved from file:///C:/Users/u1273529/Downloads/1705-2277-1-PB%20(1).pdf.

- Tibbetts, S. G. and Gilbert, T. D. , 2006-11-01 "The Effects of Family Size on the Development of Delinquency" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Criminology (ASC), Los Angeles Convention Center, Los Angeles, CA . 2013-12-16 from http://citation.allacademic.com/meta/p124920_index.html

- Wadsworth, M. (1979). Roots of Delinquency: Infancy, Adolescence and Crime. Oxford: Martin Robertson.

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