Appi Ajp 157 6 917
Appi Ajp 157 6 917
Appi Ajp 157 6 917
inals than those with only one of these risk factors. Another study (9) showed that violent crimes were predicted
by the interaction between maternal rejection at age 1 and
birth complications. Taken together, these studies suggest
that the development of violent behavior may be influenced by a biosocial process that takes place during the
very first years of life.
Birth complications are not the earliest biological risk
factors for behavioral disorder. During pregnancy, the fetus is exposed to various influences that could negatively
affect its development. These influences are partly responsible for the development of minor physical anomalies, trivial aberrations that can be found on many parts of
the body. Minor physical anomalies are considered indicators of fetal developmental disruption. The specific origin of these anomalies is not yet fully understood, but the
interaction between environmental factors and genetic
determinants is their most likely cause (10, 11). The central nervous system (CNS) may also be affected by factors
responsible for minor physical anomalies because the development of the CNS is concurrent with the development
of the organs that show the minor anomalies. Because
neurological impairments are known to be associated
917
918
Method
Sample
Participants were involved in an ongoing longitudinal study of
boys from lower socioeconomic status areas in Montral (26).
Fifty-three schools were selected because of the students low
score on a socioeconomic index that was based on family earnings, occupational prestige, and parents schooling (27). Kindergarten teachers were asked to rate the behaviors of the boys in
their classes. Only white, French-speaking boys whose mother
and father were born in Canada were included in the sample (N=
1,037) in order to have a culturally homogeneous group.
Data on minor physical anomalies were collected during a laboratory visit of a study group of 177 boys when they were 14 years
of age. The boys were selected on the basis of teacher ratings of
physical aggression and anxiety from age 6 to 12 (see reference
28) by using the Social Behavior Questionnaire (29). Physical aggression was measured with three items: fights with other children; kicks, bites, hits other children; and bullies other children.
The anxiety scale comprised five items: fearful, distressed, worried, solitary, and cries. Each item was scored on a frequency scale
ranging from 0 to 2. The Cronbach value for internal consistency
for the anxiety scale was 0.76 when the boys were ages 6, 10, 11,
and 12. For the physical aggression scale, the mean Cronbach
value when the boys were between ages 6 and 12 was 0.84 and
ranged from 0.78 to 0.87. The boys had to meet at least one of the
following four overlapping criteria to be selected for the study
group: 1) high aggressive or anxious behavioral pattern indicated
by scores above the 70th percentile at age 6 and at least 2 other
years, 2) low aggressive or anxious behavioral pattern indicated
by scores below the 70th percentile at all assessments, 3) pattern
of late-onset physical aggressiveness or anxiety indicated by
scores above the 70th percentile only at age 12, and 4) prior visits
to the laboratory. Compared to the rest of the sample (N=860), the
study group was more aggressive, hyperactive, inattentive, and
anxious in kindergarten, but was similar in socioeconomic characteristics and in prosociality. The behavioral differences were
due to an overrepresentation of aggressive and anxious boys in
the study group as a result of the selection criteria. Because all
boys were recruited in regular schools, none of them had mental
retardation, severe intellectual deficits, or significant physical
handicaps. Data on minor physical anomalies and delinquent behaviors were available for 170 boys, 96% of the study group. Written informed consent was obtained from both the boys and their
parents.
Violent Delinquents
(N=44)b
Nonviolent
Delinquents (N=42)b
37
31
67
21.8
18.2
39.4
12
10
23
27.3
22.7
52.3
10
7
20
23.8
16.7
47.6
18
57
47
57
64
10.6
33.5
27.6
33.5
37.6
1
19
10
17
15
2.3
43.2
22.7
38.6
34.1
2
15
9
13
15
4.8
35.7
21.4
31.0
35.7
80
15
47.3
8.8
21
6
47.7
13.6
23
4
54.8
9.5
12
61
25
7.2
35.9
15.1
5
20
6
11.4
45.5
14.0
3
10
7
7.1
23.8
17.1
43
7
25.3
4.1
14
31.8
12
1
28.6
2.4
6
113
3.5
66.5
1
22
2.3
50.0
28
66.7
Data missing on epicanthus for one participant, on electric fine hair for three participants, and on large circumference of the head for four
participants.
b Data missing on large circumference of the head for one participant.
ical anomalies. A similar decision was made in a previous study
when anomalies were found to be the norm rather than an exception (33). Because of this exclusion, we did not examine minor
physical anomalies of the feet in analyses of separate anatomical
regions.
Family Adversity
Seven socioeconomic indices were used to create an index of
family adversity (29). These indices were mothers and fathers occupational prestige, mothers and fathers age at birth of their first
child, mothers and fathers education level, and familial status.
The accumulation of these different variables has been shown to
increase the risk of behavioral disorders by creating stressful rearing conditions (34). Occupational prestige reflected a socioeconomic index of jobs in Canada (35), and familial status referred to
whether both biological parents were living with the boy. Information on these indices was collected during a telephone interview with the mother at the end of the boys kindergarten year.
Because we hypothesized that environmental conditions have an
impact on behaviors early in life, only the measure of adversity
when the boy was age 6 was used, as it represented the earliest index of the socioeconomic conditions in which the boy grew up.
Except for familial status, all indices were given a score of 1 if they
were below the 30th percentile in the present sample and a score
of 0 if they were above the 30th percentile. For familial status, a
score of 1 was given if the boy was not living with his two biological parents during his kindergarten year. The maximum family
adversity score was 7 for a boy living with one biological parent
and a stepparent and was 4 for a boy living with one parent only.
Therefore, the total family adversity score was divided by 7 if the
boy was living with two parents and by 4 if he was living with one
parent. The study group scores ranged from 0 to 1 (mean=0.34,
SD=0.23), with higher scores representing more adversity. Study
group members did not differ from the rest of the sample on each
family adversity index. This composite measure of the degree of
Am J Psychiatry 157:6, June 2000
adversity in families when the boy was age 6 was shown to be predictive of a stable level of childhood physical aggression in the
large sample and was highly correlated with family adversity
scores when the boy was age 12 (r=0.85) (5). In addition, this index
was related to verbal learning difficulties within this study group
(28) and was associated with childhood externalizing disorders in
a sample of more than 3,000 French-speaking children (36). The
scores were standardized for easier interpretation of the results.
Delinquent Behavior
At age 17, the boys were asked to respond to 27 items measuring delinquent behaviors that took place at home, at school, and
with their friends (26). Four scales were created on the basis of
items measuring physical aggression, theft, vandalism, and substance use. The Cronbach values for internal consistency of the
four scales measured at age 17 were 0.78, 0.87, 0.73, and 0.82, respectively. Scores on the four scales at ages 16 and 17 were significantly correlated (r=0.62 [N=767], 0.67 [N=767], 0.45 [N=764],
and 0.72 [N=766], respectively). Self-reported delinquency scales
virtually identical to the one used in this study have been reported to have both concurrent and predictive validity (37). The
score on the first scale (physical aggression) was considered a
measure of self-reported violent delinquency, and the scores on
the last three scales (theft, vandalism, and substance use) were
summed to represent self-reported nonviolent delinquency. Data
at age 16 were used for five participants whose data at age 17 were
missing. Thirty-eight violent delinquents and 40 nonviolent delinquents were identified by using a 75th percentile cutoff point,
given the skewed distributions of the two self-reported delinquency scales.
Criminal status was determined by a search of the criminal
records for all boys in the sample as of age 19. Crimes were classified as violent or nonviolent according to the Canadian criminal
code. Violent crimes such as illegal possession of a weapon, animal cruelty, and violent threats were found in 67 boys of the larger
919
SE
Odds
SE
Odds
0.28
0.13
0.36
0.20
0.15
0.10
0.19
0.10
1.3*
0.9
1.4*
1.2*
0.05
0.21
0.03
0.03
0.15
0.11
0.19
0.10
1.1
0.8*
1.0
1.0
0.31
0.52
0.19
0.24
1.4
1.7*
0.03
0.23
0.19
0.24
1.0
1.3
0.38
0.07
0.18
0.16
1.5*
1.1
0.06
0.18
0.19
0.17
1.1
0.8
0.37
0.15
0.18
0.31
1.4*
1.2
0.06
0.22
0.19
0.30
1.1
1.2
0.37
0.34
0.19
0.28
1.4*
1.4
0.03
0.34
0.19
0.30
1.0
0.7
0.38
0.19
0.18
0.37
1.5*
1.2
0.08
0.21
0.19
0.37
1.1
1.2
B, SE, and odds values for the covariables childhood physical aggression and anxiety were similar to those in regression 1.
* p<0.05.
sample and in 11 of the 170 boys in the study group (6.5%). Nonviolent crimes such as robbery, breaking and entering, and prostitution were found in 44 boys of the large sample and in five
members of the study group (2.9%). Given the overlap between
self-reports and official records of delinquency (2=36.3, df=1,
p<0.001, for violent delinquency; and 2=19.4, df=1, p<0.001, for
nonviolent delinquency), we identified a violent delinquent
group of 44 boys, or 25.9% of the study group, who had been arrested for a violent crime or had reported committing a violent offense, and a nonviolent delinquent group of 42 boys, or 24.7% of
the study group, who had been arrested for a nonviolent crime or
had reported committing a nonviolent offense. The violent and
nonviolent groups were not mutually exclusive; 21 participants
committed both violent and nonviolent offenses, 23 committed
only violent offenses, and 21 committed only nonviolent offenses.
Statistical Analyses
Logistic regression analyses were used to test the predictive
value of minor physical anomalies and family adversity. To control for the selection criteria, mean scores for physical aggression
and anxiety at ages 6, 10, 11, and 12 were used as covariates and
entered in the first step of the analyses. Minor physical anomalies
and family adversity were then forced in the second and third
steps, and the interaction term was left free to enter in a forward
stepwise selection in the last step of the analyses. These procedures were repeated for the total count of minor physical anomalies and separately for the minor physical anomaly score of each
anatomical region. In the analyses, violent delinquents were
compared to participants who did not commit violent offenses,
and nonviolent delinquents were compared to participants who
did not commit nonviolent offenses.
Results
Table 1 shows the frequency of minor physical anomalies in the study group. High percentages of study group
members had anomalies in the regions of the ears and the
mouth. Inconsistent percentages were found for anomalies observed in other anatomical regions. Compared to
920
Discussion
The goal of this study was to assess the contribution of
minor physical anomalies, family adversity, and their interaction to the prediction of delinquency during adolescence. Minor physical anomalies of different anatomical
regions were examined in an attempt to get a more precise
idea of the organic structures and processes involved in
the development of adolescent delinquency. Separate
analyses were used to predict violent delinquency and
nonviolent delinquency because the two types of delinquency could have different etiologies (25).
Adolescent boys with higher counts of anomalies, and
especially with anomalies of the mouth, were found to be
most at risk for violent delinquency. Previous studies of
minor physical anomalies have shown that anomalies of
the mouth are more frequent in children with psychoses
and in adults with schizophrenia (19, 20). Anomalies of the
mouth have been found in individuals with neurological
deficits (38, 39) and could be associated with CNS dysfunctions that increase the risk for violent delinquency.
The CNS develops in a sequential and hierarchical way
(40), and each organ has a specific critical period of vulnerability to teratogens that may result in developmental
disruption (10). For example, the critical period for the deAm J Psychiatry 157:6, June 2000
Unlike Mednick and Kandels study (22), the study reported here found that the interaction between minor
physical anomalies and family adversity did not predict violent delinquency. Mednick and Kandels use of a dichotomized score for minor physical anomalies may explain the
differences in results compared to those reported here. It
is possible that the significant interaction in their study reflected a nonlinear effect of minor physical anomalies, as
their analyses did not control for quadratic effects.
The study reported here was limited to French-speaking, Caucasian males from low socioeconomic status areas in a large city, overrepresenting subjects with stable
childhood physical aggression and anxiety. Replications in
other populations will be needed to confirm the importance of anomalies of the mouth in the prediction of violent delinquency. Longitudinal studies of infants will also
be needed to examine the process by which infants with
these anomalies would fail to learn to inhibit physical aggression. Preventive interventions would be different depending on whether the risk for violent delinquency is
through feeding problems, neurological deficits, or a mixture of these factors, or through other factors, such as parent-child interactions, that were not addressed in this
study.
921
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