Do sociopath's pass it down to their children?

Question

I'm wondering if sociopaths (antisocial personality) can pass that on to their kids or if it is learnt behaviour. What are the chances that it is genetic?

Answer 1

It's very probable...

Answer 2

I doubt we can ever do away with the nature (genetic) verses nurture (learned behavior) argument. There are recorded examples of adopted children or children raised in institutions exhibiting traits similar to their natural parents, but no way to know for certain that the people who raised them weren't looking for the symptoms, thereby nurturing the traits.

Answer 3

Not Necessarily, but it is probably a combination of both nature and nurture.

Answer 4

The exact cause of APD (Antisocial personality disorder) is not known, but biological or genetic factors may play a role.

If a family member has had the disorder (especially the parents) it increases the chance of the disorder. A number of environmental factors in the childhood home, school, and community may also contribute to the disorder.

Robins (1966) found an increased incidence of sociopathic characteristics and alcoholism in the fathers of individuals with antisocial personality disorder. He found that, within such a family, males had an increased incidence of APD, whereas females tended to show an increased incidence of somatization disorder instead.[16]

Bowlby (1944) saw a connection between antisocial personality disorder and maternal deprivation in the first five years of life. Glueck and Glueck (1968) saw reasons to believe that the mothers of children who developed this personality disorder usually did not discipline their children and showed little affection towards them. They would also usually be alcoholics, and be very impulsive and/or violent. These factors all could lead to an unstable home.

Adoption studies show that both genetic and environmental factors can contribute to the development of the disorder. These studies have also have shown that genetic factors are more important for adults with the disorder, while environmental factors are more important in antisocial children [17][16]

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