Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Serious Delinquent Behavior, Sensation Seeking, and Electrodermal Arousal

  • Published:
Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Low tonic skin conductance level (SCL) has been related, inconsistently, to both delinquency and sensation-seeking. This study tests the hypothesis that there is an interaction such that high sensation seeking delinquents, in particular, have low SCLs. Participants consisted of 335 boys from the Pittsburgh Youth Study classified as serious delinquents or controls based upon 10 years of prospectively collected self-report delinquency data. Participants' skin conductance was evaluated at age 16 along with several personality and neuropsychological measures. Both delinquency and sensation seeking were characterized by low SCL. However, there was no evidence to suggest that the presence of both of these factors together lead to especially low skin conductance levels. This finding is not explained by differences between the groups on measures of negative emotionality, IQ, socioeconomic status, or impulsivity.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991a). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991b). Manual for the Teacher Report Form and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Achenbach, T. M. (1991c). Manual for the Youth Self-Report and 1991 Profile. Burlington: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.

    Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, N. B., & McNeilly, M. (1991). Age, gender and ethnicity as variables in psychophysiological assessment: Sociodemographics in context. Psychological Assessment, 3(3), 376-384.

    Google Scholar 

  • Arnett, P. A. (1997). Autonomic responsivity in psychopaths: A critical review and theoretical proposal. Clinical Psychology Review, 17(7), 903-936.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bardo, M. T., Donohew, R. L., & Harrington, N. G. (1996). Behavioural Brain Research, 77(1/2), 23-43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blackburn, R. (1978). Psychopathy, arousal and the need for stimulation. In R. Hare & D. Schalling (Eds.), Psychopathic behavior: Approaches to research (pp. 157-164). New York: Wiley.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein, A., Farrington, D. P., & Moitra, S. (1985). Delinquency careers: Innocents, desisters and persisters. In M. Tonry & N. Morris (Eds.), Crime and justice: An annual review of research (Vol. 6, pp. 187-219). Chicago: Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boucsein, W. (1992). Electrodermal activity. New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Davidson, R. A., & Smith, B. D. (1989) Arousal and habituation: Differential effects of caffeine, sensation seeking and task difficulty. Personality and Individual Differences, 10(1), 111-119.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elliot, D. S., Huizinga, D., & Ageton, S. S. (1985). Explaining delinquency and drug use. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellis, L. (1987). Relationships of criminality and psychopathy with eight other apparent behavioral manifestations of sub-optimal arousal. Personality and Individual Differences, 8(6), 905-925.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eysenck, S. B. G., Pearson, P. R., Easting, G., & Allsopp, J. F. (1985). Age norms for impulsiveness, venturesomness, and empathy in adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 613-619.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farley, F. H., & Farley, S. V. (1972). Stimulus-seeking motivation and delinquent behavior among institutionalized delinquent girls. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 39, 94-97.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farley, F. H., & Sewell, T. (1976). Test of an arousal theory of delinquency: Stimulation-seeking in delinquent and non-delinquent black adolescents. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 3, 315-320.

    Google Scholar 

  • Farrington, D. P., & Loeber, R. (2000). Some benefits of dichotomization in psychiatric and criminological research. Criminal Behavior and Mental Health, 10, 100-122.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fowles, D. C., Christie, M. J., Edelberg, R., Grings, W. W., Lykken, D. T., & Venables, P. H. (1981). Publication recommendations for electrodermal measurements. Psychophysiology, 18(3), 232-239.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gilbert, D. G., Gilbert, B. O., Johnson, S., & McColloch, M. A. (1991). Electrocortical and electrodermal activity differences between aggressive adolescents and controls. Journal of Social Behavior and Personality, 6(2), 403-410.

    Google Scholar 

  • Goma M., Perez, J., & Torrubia, R. (1988). Personality variables in antisocial and prosocial disinhibitory behavior. In T. Moffitt & S. Mednick (Eds.), Biological contributions to crime causation (pp. 211-222). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Martinus Nijhoff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harpur, T. J., & Hare, R. D. (1994). Assessment of psychopathy as a function of age. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(4), 604-609.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herpertz, S. C., Werth, U., Lukas, G., Qunaibi, M., Schuerkens, A., Hanns-Juergen, K., et al. (2001). Emotion in criminal offenders with psychopathy and borderline personality disorder. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 737-745.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hollingshead, A. B. (1975) Four factor index of social status. Unpublished manuscript.

  • Kandel, E., Mednick, S. A., Kirkegaard-Sorensen, L., Hutchings, B., Knop, J., Rosenberg, R., et al. (1988). IQ as a protective factor for subjects at high risk for antisocial behavior. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56(2), 224-226.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, P. M. (1987). Issues in the measurement of arousability. In J. Strelau & H. Eysenck (Eds.), Personality dimensions and arousal (pp. 233-250). New York: Plenum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruesi, M. J. P., Hibbs, E. D., Zahn, T. P., Keysor, C. S., Hamburger, S. D., Bartko, J. J., et al. (1992). A 2-year prospective follow-up study of children and adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders. Archives of General Psychiatry, 49, 429-435.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lahey, B. B., McBurnett, K., Loeber, R., & Hart, E. L. (1995). Psychobiology. In G. Sholevar (Ed.), Conduct disorders in children and adolescents (pp. 27-44). Washington DC: American Psychiatric Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loeb, J., & Mednick, S. A. (1977). A prospective study of predictors of criminality: Electrodermal response patterns. In S. Mednick & K. Christiansen (Eds.), Biosocial Bases of Criminal Behavior (pp. 245-254). New York: Gardner Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Van Kammen, W. B. (1998). Antisocial behavior and mental health problems: Explanatory factors in childhood and adolescence. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., Van Kammen, W. B., & Farrington, D. P. (1989). Development of a new measure of self-reported antisocial behavior for young children: Prevalence and reliability. In M. Klein (Ed.), Cross-national research in self-reported crime and delinquency (pp. 203-225). Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer-Nijhoff.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lovibond, P. F. (1992). Tonic and phasic electrodermal measures of human aversive conditioning with long duration stimuli. Psychophysiology, 29(6), 621-632.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynam, D. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T., Wikstrom, P.-O., Loeber, R., & Novak, S. (2000). The interaction between impulsivity and neighborhood context on offending: The effects of impulsivity are stronger in poorer neighborhoods. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109(4), 563-574.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lynam, D., Moffitt, T., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1993). Explaining the relation between IQ and delinquency: Class, race, test motivation, school failure or self-control? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 102(2), 187-196.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNamara, L., & Ballard, M. E. (1999). Resting arousal, sensation seeking and music preference. Genetic, Social and General Psychology Monographs, 125(3), 229-250.

    Google Scholar 

  • Neary, R. S., & Zuckerman, M. (1976). Sensation seeking, trait and state anxiety, and the electrodermal orienting response. Psychophysiology, 13(3), 205-211.

    Google Scholar 

  • Plouffe, L., & Stelmack, R. M. (1986). Sensation-seeking and the electrodermal orienting response in young and elderly females. Personality and Individual Differences, 7(1), 119-120.

    Google Scholar 

  • Quay, H. C. (1965). Psychopathic personality as pathological stimulation seeking. American Journal of Psychiatry, 122, 180-183.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raine, A. (1993). The psychopathology of crime San Diego: Academic Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raine, A., Reynolds, C., Venables, P. H., Mednick, S. A., & Farrington, D. (1998). Fearlessness, stimulation seeking, and large body size at age 3 years as early predispositions to childhood aggression at age 11 years. Archives of General Psychiatry, 55, 145-751.

    Google Scholar 

  • Raine, A., Venables, P. H., & Williams, M. (1990). Relationships between central and autonomic measures of arousal at age 15 years and criminality at age 24 years. Archives of General Psychiatry, 47, 1003-1007.

    Google Scholar 

  • Robbins, T. W. (1997). Arousal systems and attentional processes. Biological Psychology, 45, 57-71.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rutter, M. (1990). Psychosocial resilience and protective mechanisms. In J. Rolf, A. Masten, D. Cicchetti, K. Nuechterlein, & S. Weintraub. (Eds.), Risk and protective factors in the development of psychopathology (pp. 181-214). New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scarpa, A., & Raine, A. (1997). Psychophysiology of anger and violent behavior. Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 20(2), 375-394.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scerbo, A. S., Freedman, L. W., Raine, A., Dawson, M. E., & Venables, P. H. (1992). A major effect of recording site on measurement of electrodermal activity. Psychophysiology, 29(2), 241-246.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B. D. (1983). Extraversion and electrodermal activity: Arousability and the inverted-U. Personality and Individual Differences, 4(4), 411-419.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, B. D., Rockwell-Tischer, S., & Davidson, R. (1986). Extraversion and arousal: Effects of attentional conditions on electrodermal activity. Personality and Individual Differences, 7(3), 293-303.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stoner, G. R., Skirboll, L. R., Sidney, W., & Hommer, D. W. (1988). Preferential effects of caffeine on limbic and cortical dopamine systems. Biological Psychiatry, 23(8), 761-768.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stouthamer-Lober, M., Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Zhang, Q., Van Kammen, W., & Maguin, E. (1993). The double edge of protective and risk factors for delinquency: Interrelations and developmental patterns. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 683-701.

    Google Scholar 

  • Watson, D., Clark, L. A., & Tellegen, A. (1988). Development and validation of brief measures of positive and negative affect: The PANAS scales. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54(6), 1063-1070.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wechsler, D. (1991). Manual for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (3rd ed.). San Antonio: The Psychological Corporation.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, J. L., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Bartusch, D. J., Needles, D. J., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1994). Measuring impulsivity and examining its relationship to delinquency. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103(2), 192-205.

    Google Scholar 

  • White, J. L., Moffitt, T. E., & Silva, P. A. (1989). A prospective replication of the protective effects of IQ in subjects at high risk for juvenile delinquency. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 719-724.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, M. (1983). Sensation seeking and sports. Personality and Individual Differences, 4, 285-292.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, M. (1994). Behavioral expression and biosocial bases of sensation seeking. New York: Cambridge University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, M., Kolin, E. A., Price, L., & Zoob, I. (1964). Development of a sensation-seeking scale. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 28(6), 477-482.

    Google Scholar 

  • Zuckerman, M., Kuhlman, D. M., Joireman, J., Teta, P., & Kraft, M. (1993). A comparison of three structural models for personality: The big three, the big five and the alternative five. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65(4), 757-768.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California

    Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp & Adrian Raine

  2. Life History Studies Program, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Rolf Loeber & Magda Stouthamer-Loeber

  3. Biometrics Research, I5IR, VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

    Stuart R. Steinhauer

Authors
  1. Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Adrian Raine
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Rolf Loeber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Magda Stouthamer-Loeber
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Stuart R. Steinhauer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lisa M. Gatzke-Kopp.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gatzke-Kopp, L.M., Raine, A., Loeber, R. et al. Serious Delinquent Behavior, Sensation Seeking, and Electrodermal Arousal. J Abnorm Child Psychol 30, 477–486 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019816930615

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1019816930615

Search

Navigation