Psychopathic personality trends and antisocial behaviour in female and male juvenile offenders

Abstract

This study examined differences in personality features and antisocial behaviour of institutionalized female and male juvenile offenders. Sixty juvenile delinquents (30 female) were evaluated in order to obtain antisocial personality traits, measures of delinquent disposition, as well as measures of frequency and diversity of delinquent behaviour. Contrary to what was expected and reported in the literature, the results showed no gender differences in terms of psychopathic features, nor disposition to delinquent behaviour, but a gender effect was found in relation to the frequency and diversity of antisocial behaviours, with a male dominance in both cases. We advance with possible explanations for the obtained results within the context of the limitations of the study, and identify cues that may contribute to further researches on gender differences in juvenile delinquency, still scarce in Portugal.