The Anatomy of Violence

by Adrian Raine

  5. Dahlberg, L. L. & Krug, E. G. (2002). Violence, a global public health problem. In E. G. Krug, L. L. Dahlberg, J. A. Mercy, A. B. Zwi & R. Lozano (eds.), World Report on Violence and Health, pp. 3–21. Geneva: World Health Organization.

  6. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The cost of violence in the United States. http://www.cdc.gov/ncipc/factsheets/CostOfViolence.htm. See also Corso, P. S., Mercy, J. A., Simon, T. R., Finkelstein, E. A. & Miller, T. R. (2007). Medical costs and productivity losses due to interpersonal and self-directed violence in the United States. American Journal of Preventive Medicine 32, 474–82.

  7. Corso et al., Medical costs and productivity losses.

  8. Miller, T. R. & Cohen, M. A. (1997). Costs of gunshot and cut/stab wounds in the United States, with some Canadian comparisons. Accident Analysis and Prevention 29, 329–41.

  9. World Health Organization (2004). Seventh World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, June 6–9, Vienna, Austria. See http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/9312.php.

  10. John Shepherd’s achievements are truly significant in the field of crime prevention—they earned him the Stockholm Prize for Criminology in 2008.

  11. Raine, A., Brennan, P. & Mednick, S. A. (1994). Birth complications combined with early maternal rejection at age 1 year predispose to violent crime at age 18 years. Archives of General Psychiatry 51, 984–88. Sarnoff Mednick, at the University of Southern California, should be credited with originally setting up this innovative study in 1969—it became one of many collaborative research works we had together.

  12. Preeclampsia is hypertension that leads to hypoxia—a relative lack of oxygen, which damages the brain, especially the hippocampus, a control area for aggression.

  13. While it may seem surprising, arrests are actually better assessments of who is a violent offender than convictions. About 90 percent of arrests never end up with a criminal conviction. Plea-bargaining results in many offenders’ never coming to court. If we relied on conviction data, many truly violent offenders would be misclassified as “nonviolent” and placed in the control group. Even with arrests, we are really getting at the tip of the iceberg, as many violent offenders are never detected. Yet at least with the “softer” criterion of arrest, we can capture in our analyses more of the truly violent offenders than conviction data yields.

  14. The fact that the group with both birth complications and maternal rejection accounts for 18 percent of all crimes committed by the entire population highlights the influence of these risk factors in predisposing individuals to crime, but also cautions that we cannot attribute all violence to these processes. Clearly, many other factors are responsible for the remaining 82 percent of the variance in violence.

  15. Raine, A., Brennan, P. & Mednick, S. A. (1997). Interaction between birth complications and early maternal rejection in predisposing individuals to adult violence: Specificity to serious, early-onset violence. American Journal of Psychiatry 154, 1265–71.

  16. The reason not wanting the pregnancy did not interact with birth complications in predisposing individuals to adult violence may be that some mothers who initially do not want the pregnancy end up changing their minds, and go on to become affectionate, caring mothers.

  17. Piquero, A. & Tibbetts, S. G. (1999). The impact of pre/perinatal disturbances and disadvantaged familial environment in predicting criminal offending. Studies on Crime & Crime Prevention 8, 52–70.

  18. Technically speaking, regression analyses are used to uncover the interaction effects found in studies of birth complications and negative home environments. Breaking down the sample into four groups is used to help illustrate the nature and direction of the interaction effects.

  19. Hodgins, S., Kratzer, L. & McNeil, T. F. (2001). Obstetric complications, parenting, and risk of criminal behavior. Archives of General Psychiatry 58, 746–52.

  20. Arsenault, L., Tremblay, R. E., Boulerice, B. & Saucier, J. F. (2002). Obstetrical complications and violent delinquency: Testing two developmental pathways. Child Development 73, 496–508.

  21. Unlike the other studies, in which more direct measures of family adversity were employed, being an only child is not obviously an indicator of psychosocial adversity, and the meaning of this interaction requires further elucidation.

  22. Kemppainen, L., Jokelainen, J., Jaervelin, M. R., Isohanni, M. & Raesaenen, P. (2001). The one-child family and violent criminality: A 31-year follow-up study of the Northern Finland 1966 birth cohort. American Journal of Psychiatry 158, 960–62.

  23. Werner, E. E., Bierman, J. M. & French, F. E. (1971). The Children of Kauai: A Longitudinal Study from the Prenatal Period to Age Ten. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.

  24. Beck, J. E. & Shaw, D. S. (2005). The influence of perinatal complications and environmental adversity on boys’ antisocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry 46, 35–46.

  25. Although the birth complication–adverse home environment interaction effects have been replicated in several countries, a study from Germany found that perinatal insult did not interact with family adversity. This may be because the sample size was small (N=322), limiting the power to detect the interaction. Alternatively, whereas in other studies the outcome was adult offending, in this study the outcome was restricted to antisocial behavior at age eight. Neurological deficits stemming from birth complications may particularly influence the more severe outcome of life-course-persistent antisocial behavior rather than the more common outcome of child antisocial behavior.

  26. Raine, A., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., et al. (2005). Neurocognitive impairments in boys on the life-course persistent antisocial path. Journal of Abnormal Psychology 114, 38–49.

  27. Beaver, K. M. & Wright, J. P. (2005). Evaluating the effects of birth complications on low self-control in a sample of twins. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 49, 450–71.

  28. Raine, A., Buchsbaum, M. & LaCasse, L. (1997). Brain abnormalities in murderers indicated by positron emission tomography. Biological Psychiatry 42, 495–508; Laakso, M. P., Vaurio, O., Koivisto, E., Savolainen, L., Eronen, M., et al. (2001). Psychopathy and the posterior hippocampus. Behavioural Brain Research 118, 187–93.

  29. Liu, J. H., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Dalais, C. & Mednick, S. A. (2004). Malnutrition at age 3 years and externalizing behavior problems at ages 8, 11 and 17 years. American Journal of Psychiatry 161, 2005–13.

  30. Liu, J. H., Raine, A., Venables, P. H., Dalais, C. & Mednick, S. A. (2003). Malnutrition at age 3 years and lower cognitive ability at age 11 years—Independence from psychosocial adversity. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine 157, 593–600.

  31. For reviews see Raine, A. (1993). The Psychopathology of Crime: Criminal Behavior as a Clinical Disorder. San Diego: Academic Press. And also Marsman, R., Rosmalen, J.G.M., Oldehinkel, A. J., Ormel, J. & Buitelaar, J. K. (2009). Does HPA-axis activity mediate the relationship between obstetric complications and externalizing behavior problems? The TRAILS study. European Child Adolescent Psychiatry 18, 565–73.

  32. Batstra, L., Hadders-Algra, M., Ormel, J. & Neeleman, J. (2004). Obstetric optimality and emotional problems and substance use in young adulthood. Early Human Development 80, 91–101; Marsman et al., Does HPA-axis activity mediate the relationship between obstetric complications and externalizing behavior problems?

  33. Wagner, A. I., Schmidt, N. L., Lemery-Chalfant, K., Leavitt, L. A. & Goldsmith, H. H. (2009). The limited effects of obstetrical and neonatal complications on conduct and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder symptoms in Middle Childhood. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 30, 217–25.

  34. Schwartz, J. (1999). Cassandra’s Daughter: A History of Psychoanalysis, p. 225. New York: Viking/Allen Lane.

  35. Bowlby, J. (1946). Forty-four Juvenile Thieves: Their Characters and Home-life. London: Tindall and Cox.

  36. Rutter, M. (1982). Maternal Deprivation Reassessed, 2
nd ed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

  37. Stanford, M. S., Houston, R. J. & Baldridge, R. M. (2008). Comparison of impulsive and premeditated perpetrators of intimate partner violence. Behavioral Sciences and the Law 26, 709–22.

  38. Genesis 4:10–12.

  39. Abel, E. L. (1983). Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. New York: Plenum.

  40. Ibid.

  41. Waldrop, M. F., Bell, R. Q., McLaughlin, B. & Halverson, C. F. (1978). Newborn minor physical anomalies predict attention span, peer aggression, and impulsivity at age 3. Science 199, 563–65.

  42. Paulus, D. L. & Martin, C. L. (1986). Predicting adult temperament from minor physical anomalies. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50, 1235–39.

  43. Halverson, C. F. & Victor, J. B. (1976). Minor physical anomalies and problem behavior in elementary schoolchildren. Child Development 47, 281–85.

  44. Arseneault, L., Tremblay, R. E., Boulerice, B., Seguin, J. R. & Saucier, J. F. (2000). Minor physical anomalies and family adversity as risk factors for violent delinquency in adolescence. American Journal of Psychiatry 157, 917–23.

  45. Pine, D. S., Shaffer, D., Schonfeld, I. S. & Davies, M. (1997). Minor physical anomalies: Modifiers of environmental risks for psychiatric impairment? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 36, 395–403.

  46. Mednick, S. A. & Kandel, E. S. (1988). Congenital determinants of violence. Bulletin of the American Academy of Psychiatry & the Law 16, 101–9.

  47. Although both hands show the dimorphism, it is stronger on the right hand than the left hand, and in general the correlation between psychological traits and finger-digit ratios are stronger for the right hand than the left hand.

  48. The specific genes in question are HoxA and HoxD.

  49. Kondo, T., Zakany, J., Innis, J. W. & Duboule, D. (1997). Of fingers, toes, and penises. Nature 390, 29.

  50. Low estrogen exposure due to diminished placental production could also be a factor in the development of shorter finger-length ratios.

  51. For ease of understanding, I will use the term “longer ring finger” to describe findings that go in the male direction. Bear in mind, however, that we are talking about the ring finger relative to the index finger, not the absolute length of the ring finger. In the research literature, scientists discuss ratios: they divide the length of the index finger by the length of the ring finger. Because men have a bigger denominator (ring finger) in this calculation, men are reported as having “smaller second-to-fourth digit ratios” compared with women—meaning a bigger ring-finger length compared with the index finger.

  52. Congenital adrenal hyperplasia is caused by a deficiency in 21-hydroxylase, which converts progesterone into corticoids; the excess of progesterone results in high concentrations of adrenal androgens.

  53. Brown, W. M., Hines, M., Fane, B. A. & Breedlove, S. M. (2002). Masculinized finger length patterns in human males and females with congenital adrenal hyperplasia. Hormones and Behavior 42, 380–86.

  54. Manning, J. T., Trivers, R. L., Singh, D. & Thornhill, R. (1999). The mystery of female beauty. Nature 399, 214–15.

  55. It is known that prenatal androgens in particular influence digit ratios because this digit ratio is relatively stable after birth, and is not influenced by pubertal testosterone exposure.

  56. Pokrywka, L., Rachon, D., Suchecka-Rachon, K. & Bitel, L. (2005). The second to fourth digit ratio in elite and non-elite female athletes. American Journal of Human Biology 17, 796–800.

  57. The musicians who were high ranking also had lower digit ratios than low-ranking musicians—see Sluming, V. A. & Manning, J. T. (2000). Second to fourth digit ratio in elite musicians: Evidence for musical ability as an honest signal of male fitness. Evolution and Human Behavior 21, 1–9.

  58. Manning, J. T., Taylor, R. P. (2001). Second to fourth digit ratio and male ability in sport: Implications for sexual selection in humans. Evolution and Human Behavior 22, 61–69.

  59. Fink, B., Manning, J. T., Williams, J.H.G. & Podmore-Nappin, C. (2007). The 2nd to 4th digit ratio and developmental psychopathology in school-aged children. Personality and Individual Differences 42, 369–79; Austin, E. J., Manning, J. T., McInroy, K. & Mathews, E. (2002). A preliminary investigation of the associations between personality, cognitive ability and digit ratio. Personality and Individual Differences 33, 1115–24.

  60. Hampson, E., Ellis, C. L. & Tenk, C. M. (2008). On the relation between 2D:4D and sex-dimorphic personality traits. Archives of Sexual Behavior 37, 133–44.

  61. Bogaert, A. F., Fawcett, C. C. & Jamieson, L. K. (2009). Attractiveness, body size, masculine sex roles and 2D:4D ratios in men. Personality and Individual Differences 47, 273–78.

  62. Martel, M. M., Klump, K., Nigg, J. T., Breedlove, S. M. & Sisk, C. L. (2009). Potential hormonal mechanisms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and major depressive disorder: A new perspective. Hormones and Behavior 55, 465–79.

  63. McFadden, D. & Schubel, E. (2002). Relative length of fingers and toes in human males and females. Hormones and Behavior 42, 492–500.

  64. Bailey, A. A. & Hurd, P. L. (2005). Finger length ratio (2D:4D) correlates with physical aggression in men but not in women. Biological Psychology 68, 215–22. It should be noted that while effects were found in males, females showed a nonsignificant trend in the predicted direction. Furthermore, effects in males were specific to physical aggression, with no effects found for verbal aggression.

  65. Burton, L. A. (2009). Aggression, gender-typical childhood play, and a prenatal hormone index. Social Behavior and Personality 37, 105–16. Again, males show significant effects, with females showing trends in the predicted direction.

  66. Liu, J., Portnoy, J. & Raine, A. (2010). Association between a marker for prenatal testosterone exposure and externalizing behavior problems in children. Development and Psychopathology 24, 771–82.

  67. Cousins, A. J., Fugère, M. A. & Franklin, M. (2009). Digit ratio (2D:4D), mate guarding, and physical aggression in dating couples. Personality and Individual Differences 46, 709–13.

  68. Ibid.

  69. Coyne, S. M., Manning, J. T., Ringer, L. & Bailey, L. (2007). Directional asymmetry (right–left differences) in digit ratio (2D:4D) predict indirect aggression in women. Personality and Individual Differences 43, 865–72.

  70. Benderlioglu, Z. & Nelson, R. J. (2004). Digit length ratios predict reactive aggression in women, but not in men. Hormones and Behavior 46, 558–64.

  71. McIntyre, M. H., Barrett, E. A., McDermott, R., Johnson, D.D.P., Cowden, J., et al. (2007). Finger length ratio (2D:4D) and sex differences in aggression during a simulated war game. Personality and Individual Differences 42, 755–64.

  72. Potegal, M. & Archer, J. (2004). Sex differences in childhood anger and aggression. Psychiatric Clinics of North America 13, 513.

  73. McIntyre et al., Finger length ratio (2D:4D) and sex differences in aggression during a simulated war game.

  74. Smith, L. M., Cloak, C. C., Poland, R. E., Torday, J., Ross, M. G. (2003). Prenatal nicotine increases testosterone levels in the fetus and female offspring. Nicotine & Tobacco Research 5, 369–74.

  75. Rizwan, S., Manning, J. T., Brabin, B. J. (2007). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and possible effects of in utero testosterone: Evidence from the 2D:4D finger length ratio. Early Human Development 83, 87–90.

  76. Malas, M. A., Dogan, S., Evcil, E. H., Desdicioglu, K. (2006). Fetal development of the hand, digits and digit ratio (2D:4D). Early Human Development 82, 469–75.

  77. Brennan, P., Grekin, E. & Mednick, S. (1999). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and adult male criminal outcomes. Archives of General Psychiatry 56, 215–19.

  78. Rantakallio, P., Laara, E., Isohanni, M. & Moilanen, I. (1992). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and delinquency of the offspring: An association without causation? International Journal of Epidemiology 21, 1106–13.

  79. Räsänen, P., Hakko, H., Isohanni, M., Hodgins, S., Järvelin, M. R. & Tiihonen, J. (1999).
Maternal smoking during pregnancy and risk of criminal behavior among adult male offspring in the Northern Finland 1966 Birth Cohort. American Journal of Psychiatry 156, 857–62.

  80. Weissman, M., Warner, V., Wickramaratne, P. & Kandel, D. (1999). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and psychopathology in offspring followed to adulthood. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry 38, 892–99.

  81. Wakschlag, L. & Hans, S. (2002). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and conduct problems in high-risk youth: A developmental framework. Development and Psychopathology 14, 351–69.

  82. Wakschlag, L. S. & Keenan, K. (2001). Clinical Significance and Correlates of Disruptive Behavior in Environmentally At-Risk Preschoolers. Journal of Clinical Child Psychology 30, 262–75.

  83. Wakschlag, L., Lahey, B., Loeber, R., Green, S., Gordon, R., et al. (1997). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and the risk of conduct disorder in boys. Archives of General Psychiatry 54, 670–76.

  84. Day, N. L., Richardson, G. A., Goldschmidt, L. & Cornelius, M. D. (2000). Effects of prenatal tobacco exposure on preschoolers’ behavior. Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics 21, 180–88.

  85. Fergusson, D., Woodward, L. & Horwood, L. (1998). Maternal smoking during pregnancy and psychiatric adjustment in late adolescence. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 721–27.

  86. Button, T.M.M., Tharpar, A. & McGuffin, P. (2005). Relationship between antisocial behaviour, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder and maternal prenatal smoking. British Journal of Psychiatry 187, 155–60.

  87. Although many studies have controlled for multiple confounds, including maternal and paternal antisocial behavior, it is still possible that genes could play a role. Antisocial mothers who smoke could pass their antisocial genes on to their children. One study using a twin design concluded that while there is certainly a smoking-antisocial relationship in children, it is almost entirely genetically mediated. Even in this study, authors caution that findings do not preclude an independent causal role of cigarette smoking in the genesis of child antisocial behavior; also, that findings are limited to young children, aged five to seven. They may not apply to adult offending and violence. See Maughan, B., Taylor, A., Caspi, A. & Moffitt, T. E. (2004). Prenatal smoking and early childhood conduct problems. Archives of General Psychiatry 6, 836–84.