Child and Adolescent Psychopathy

Abstract

This current article introduces the special issue on child and adolescent psychopathy and the search for protective factors. Although there has been considerable research conducted on psychopathy at the adult level and a surge of research attempting to extend the concept to children and adolescents in the past decade, few studies have attempted to examine factors that might moderate or protect against the development of psychopathy. This special issue focuses on topics relevant to examining potential protective factors within a developmental psychopathology framework. Articles in the special issue are longitudinal and thus allow for the examination of protective factors as they are evidenced in real time. They focus on genetics, peer relations, parental factors, and internalizing and externalizing symptoms. These studies provide a foundation for examining protective factors and provide the groundwork for future research in this area.