In the wake of yet another random mass shooting in America, people’s thoughts are undoubtedly with the families of the victims — but what about the family of the perpetrator?
More often than not, a large part of the blame is reserved for the parents of these violent offenders.
But in our hurry to point fingers, we often forget that they can be just as shocked as the rest of the world.
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There is nothing more disturbing than the idea that some children are born ‘evil’ and no amount of nurture can change that.
Are the parents of alleged Batman shooter James Holmes just the unlucky recipients of a child who was born lacking empathy? A new Australian study suggests this might be exactly what happened.
Research released by the University of Sydney last week proved some children are born “bad”, or as psychologists put it, born with “callous-unemotional” traits.
Such children show a fearless temperament and lack of interest in other people’s emotions from an early age.
This CU behaviour has been shown to be a strong indicator of psychopathic behaviour and violent crime in adulthood.
Even more alarming is the news that these children are indifferent to traditional punishment, according to the study.
There is hope for parents however. Even if a child is born “bad”, good parenting can stop them from developing violent traits.
“The quality of a parent’s emotional interaction and attachment with a young child is crucial to predicting if that child will develop this high-risk pattern of behaviour,” Dr David Hawes, the research leader from the School of Psychology at the University says.
“While CU characteristics seem to be largely under the control of genetics, if a child receives consistent and warm parenting in a secure family environment it can protect against those traits.”
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Until recently the quality of a child’s parenting was not believed to have an impact on the behaviour of CU children, but this research suggests that strengthening the emotional bonds between parents and their infants can make a difference.
The research was unusual in concentrating on very young children and was based primarily on direct observation. It used video analysis to evaluate the quality of interactions and attachment between mothers and children.
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