The MacDonald Triad refers to fire setting, bedwetting, and cruelty to animals, three behaviors that, when present in children, may predict later violent and/or antisocial behavior. The term is derived from John M. MacDonald’s 1963 research paper The Threat To Kill. Recent research has argued that while adults who commit violent crimes may have exhibited one or more of these actions in childhood, there’s little evidence they frequently exhibited all three.