PERSONALITY AND ANTISOCIAL-BEHAVIOR IN CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS - AN INQUIRY INTO EYSENCKS AND GRAYS THEORIES

Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses derived from Eysenck 's and Gray's theories of personality regarding antisocial behavior. F or this purpose the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (Junior) (EPQ-Ju nior) and a card task aimed at measuring sensitivity to reward were us ed in each of the studies. The first study compared a group of juvenil e delinquents with a group of nondelinquents and the second study comp ared a group of severely conduct-disordered children with a group of n ormal children. The results did not support Eysenck's claim that delin quents score higher than their normal counterparts on extraversion, ne uroticism, and psychoticism. Some support was found for the hypothesis derived from Gray's theory: Children and adolescents with severe anti social behavior were more sensitive to rewards than their normal count erparts.