| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Psychiatric Bulletin | Advances in Psychiatric Treatment | All RCPsych Journals |
|
|
|
||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
1 Assistant Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, Missouri 63110, U.S.A.
2 Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, Missouri 63110, U.S.A.
3 Vice-Chancellor for Medical Affairs and Professor of Psychiatry, Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, 4940 Audubon Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, Missouri 63110, U.S.A.
Sociopathy is highly familial in both white and black families. Sociopathy in men and women clusters in the same families, but is much more frequent in men than in women. It is more prevalent among relatives of sociopathic women than among relatives of sociopathic men. The sex difference in its prevalence appears to be due to sex-related cultural or biological factors causing the threshold to be more deviant in women. There is no evidence of a genetic difference in its prevalence and transmission according to race.
The two-threshold Multifactorial Model of Disease Transmission provides an explanation for the striking sex difference in the transmission of sociopathy. Such a pattern of transmission is obtained only in diseases whose genetic component is polygenic or, if only one or a few genotypes are relevant, where each of these has a small effect relative to environmental factors.
Assortative mating accounts for a large proportion of the observed similarity between relatives. However, the familial clustering of male and female sociopaths is not dependent on assortative mating.
The high correlation among siblings that is expected under conditions of random mating indicates that environmental factors common to siblings contribute to the aetiology of sociopathy. The greater deviance of the parental home experiences of sociopathic women compared to sociopathic men is further evidence of the importance of familial environment.
Submitted on June 26, 1974
This article has been cited by other articles:
|
|
 |
|
  B. M. Hicks, R. F. Krueger, W. G. Iacono, M. McGue, and C. J. Patrick Family Transmission and Heritability of Externalizing Disorders: A Twin-Family Study Arch Gen Psychiatry, September 1, 2004; 61(9): 922 - 928. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
S. Sigvardsson, C. R. Cloninger, M. Bohman, and A.-L. von Knorring Predisposition to Petty Criminality in Swedish Adoptees: III. Sex Differences and Validation of the Male Typology Arch Gen Psychiatry, November 1, 1982; 39(11): 1248 - 1253. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
K. R. Merikangas Assortative Mating for Psychiatric Disorders and Psychological Traits Arch Gen Psychiatry, October 1, 1982; 39(10): 1173 - 1180. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
M. A. Schuckit, E. Shaskan, J. Duby, R. Vega, and M. Moss Platelet Monoamine Oxidase Activity in Relatives of Alcoholics: Preliminary Study With Matched Control Subjects Arch Gen Psychiatry, February 1, 1982; 39(2): 137 - 140. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
 |
|
 A.W. Burke A Cross Cultural Study of Delinquency Among West Indian Boys International Journal of Social Psychiatry, June 1, 1980; 26(2): 81 - 87. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
C. R. Cloninger, K. O. Christiansen, T. Reich, and I. I. Gottesman Implications of Sex Differences in the Prevalences of Antisocial Personality, Alcoholism, and Criminality for Familial Transmission Arch Gen Psychiatry, August 1, 1978; 35(8): 941 - 951. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
|
|
|
|
R. J. Cadoret Psychopathology in Adopted-Away Offspring of Biologic Parents With Antisocial Behavior Arch Gen Psychiatry, February 1, 1978; 35(2): 176 - 184. [Abstract] [PDF]
|
|
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
| Psychiatric Bulletin | Advances in Psychiatric Treatment | All RCPsych Journals |
