Emotional stimuli are typically prioritized in competition for attention in healthy individuals. In contrast, there is evidence that individuals high in psychopathic traits fail to similarly prioritize emotional stimuli. With aberrant attention to emotional stimuli implicated in the development and maintenance of other psychopathologies, attentional insensitivity to emotional stimuli may also be important in the callous-unemotional responding seen in psychopathy. This study assessed emotional attention in association with psychopathic traits in a community sample (N = 121) using two commonly used emotional attention tasks—the dot probe and emotion-induced blindness tasks. Psychopathic personality traits were examined in association with two attention domains where emotional attention effects are reliably found: early perceptual competition and competition for spatial attention. Participants high in interpersonal-affective traits of psychopathy (boldness or meanness) exhibited emotional attention deficits in both domains when impulsive-antisocial traits were also high. These findings are discussed in the context of the inconsistent literature on attention to emotional stimuli in psychopathy.

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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to identify the demographic characteristics, psychological and mental health difficulties, victimisation histories, and offending behaviours of New Zealand child pornography offenders (CPOs) who presented to community-based treatment. Findings are compared with national and international research, and with population norms. Such comparisons can help identify factors that may play a role in the development of child pornography (CP) consumption and potential treatment needs for this population. Design/methodology/approach – A file audit of assessment information and service exit reports was conducted of 46 CPOs who were referred to community-based treatment service in New Zealand. Findings – CPOs were predominantly male, European, and unemployed. Most CPOs were single or separated/divorced, and had no friends or one to five friends, which indicates possible social functioning difficulties, including intimacy. Mental health issues, such as depression and anxiety, loneliness, and childhood abuse appear to be elevated among CPOs in comparison with general population norms. Prior to referral, one-third had engaged in contact sexual offending and most had no non-sexual offending history. CP was often in the form of photos or images, and contained European pre-pubescent females. CPOs’ mental health, social isolation, intimacy deficits, and childhood abuse could be treatment targets for this population. Originality/value – Limited research has been conducted concerning New Zealand CPOs. Furthermore, studies often do not compare findings with general population norms, which can help identify factors prevalent among the CPOs and treatment needs for this population.

Research has established links between youth firesetting and general antisocial behavior. The current study sought to better understand these links by identifying fire-specific and general risk factors for offending from a national sample of children and adolescent firesetters ( N = 1,790), from a New Zealand Fire Service intervention program, up to 10 years after intervention. Most (62%) had committed an offense post-intervention, primarily moderate or severe offending. Only 5% had committed an arson offense post-intervention. Nearly all measures of victimization, psychosocial/emotional problems, previous conduct problem behavior, and child-welfare history were associated with post-intervention offending and/or offending severity. Pre-intervention offending and being older (aged 12+ years) at intervention were the major independent risk factors for offending. A protective factor was firesetting having occurred at home. Findings highlight young firesetters’ broad patterns of pervasive antisocial behavior and multiple adverse family, environmental, and individual factors that accompany and contribute to wide-ranging, non-fire-related offending.

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