Biological and Individual Difference Risk Factors

Abstract

This chapter will review risk factors for the development of antisocial behaviour that can be classified as having a biological or heritable basis. This includes having a family history of Antisocial Personality Disorder, or whether one is born a female or male. It is relevant to note here the differences between sex and gender (see the insert below). This chapter will also review individual difference risk factors which include factors such as temperament and personality. Personality traits and temperamental styles can be conceptualized as internal dispositions that influence relatively stable styles of behaving over time and across situations. The chapter concludes with a review of an individual difference variable, otherwise referred to as “Psychopathy”, that is more descriptive of abnormal or disordered functioning, as compared to the normative personality dimensions summarized in Table 1.