Abstract:
The interplay of hormonal balance, intellectual ability, and psychosocial maturity has not yet been investigated in adolescents with psychopathic traits. We recruited 58 adolescent offenders and collected self-report measures of psychosocial maturity (The Risk-Sophistication-Treatment-Inventory-Self-Report; RSTI-SR) and conducted an IQ test (Kaufman-Brief Intelligence Test-Second Edition), as well as an interview to estimate their level of psychopathic characteristics (Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version; PCL-YV). We also collected a sample of salivary cortisol and testosterone at the beginning of the session to assess youth’s resting concentrations of hormones and two samples of cortisol and testosterone at 20 minutes and 40 minutes following a social stress induction to assess their immediate reaction to stress, as well as their ability to recover from stress. The primary findings from this study were that intelligence moderated the relationships between the antisocial facet and each of baseline cortisol, cortisol reactivity, and the ratio of baseline testosterone to cortisol reactivity. Thus, in this study, when the role of intelligence was considered hormonal secretion was more closely related to antisocial traits than more
