Anger experience, styles of anger expression, sadistic personality disorder, and psychopathy in juvenile sexual homicide offenders

Sexual homicide by juveniles is a ran phenomenon, and information regarding the psychological and behavioral characteristics of this group is limited. No studies exist which have investigated anger experience and styles of an ger expression, and the relationship between anger, sadistic personality di sorder, and psychopathy, in this type of youthful offender. These areas wer e explored by evaluating 14 juvenile sexual homicide offenders through clin ical assessment, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory (STAXI), the Sc hedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality (SNAP), the Revised Psychop athy Checklist (PCL-R), and review of correctional records. Descriptive inf ormation for the STAXI scales and internal consistency data are presented. Trait Anger was significantly higher than State Anger for the youth, but st ilt comparable to adolescent norms. The difference between Anger-In and Ang er-Out scale scores was not significant. Unexpectedly, Anger Control scale scores were significantly higher than Anger Out scale scores, clinically co nsistent with efforts by some of these buys to resist sadistic impulses. Th ose four (31%) participants who met criteria for sadistic personality had s ignificantly higher Anger-Out scale scores than these without the disorder, and were also higher on Trait Anger to a marginally significant degree. Ps ychopathy was significantly negatively associated with Anger Control. This study is intended to contribute to the scant literature on juvenile sexual homicide, and lends some support to the validity and utility of sadistic pe rsonality disorder as a diagnosis in younger forensic populations. The find ings did not support the contention that this form of violence is necessari ly an outgrowth of excessive anger.