Pyromaniac animal torturing kids

[slimfandango]

I heard this was a good predictor for various other kinds of bad behaviours in adulthood. Is there any truth to this?

[keen2learn]

I have always understood it to be a sinister and worrying sign, especially the animal cruelty. It indicates an inability to understand or care about the feelings other others, and the potential to derive pleasure from, or at least be indifferent to, cruelty, both of which are symptomatic of psychopathis personalities.

[calleach]

I used to start fires and I recall throwing darts at a frog and shooting a sparrow when I was a kid. I grew up without major antisocial traits and am a succesful GP with loving strong family.Good luck

[smudge]

I wonder what sort of childhood Dr Harold Shipman had to make him murder so many of his innocent patients?

[Miss Zippy]

I remember covering this when I studied criminology and studies showed that there is a high correlation between children who torture and kills animals for fun and depraved behaviour in adulthood. However, that is a sweeping generalisation and there is a lot more to it than that.  It is children who systematically plan their torturing spree, planning when and how it will happen that cause most concern, which is what the boys who killed James Bulger used to do

[FP]

I cannot believe that a normal child would torture an animal for fun, unless he or she was raised in an environment where this sort of behaviour was considered OK.  However, most children are fascinated by fires and don't think of the dangers when they start them.