We like to think that monstrous criminals are born like that and that there’s nothing anyone could’ve done to change their destiny. Well, that’s not quite true.
Recent studies show that there’s a lot a parent can do in order to transform their child into a psychopath. Parents may not intentionally raise children in a such a way as to screw up their future. But some extreme parenting styles increase the chances of the child becoming a criminal psychopath.
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Most criminals have a history of parental abuse, be it physical or emotional. And this can mean two opposite things. They were either totally neglected as children or they had rigid, authoritarian parents.
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Of course, a bad childhood doesn’t necessarily lead to a life of crime. But almost all criminals had been victims of parental abuse. Dr Gullhaugen, one of the authors of the study, explained the types of parents criminal psychopaths typically had: “Either they lived in a situation where no one cared, where the child is subjected to total control and must be submissive, or the child has been subjected to a neglectful parenting style.”
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The point is not to blame the parents and to absolve the individual from moral responsibility, but to point out a pattern that most criminals have in common. By doing that, we can better understand the influence that the upbringing can have on a child’s future. Please, share this!
