Abstract
Callous-unemotional traits are defined as potential markers of psychopathy in children and adolescents. Previous studies with the most widely used instrument designed specifically to assess these traits, the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU), have shown major methodological problems. For this reason, the purpose of the present study was to develop a valid and reliable test to assess callous-unemotional traits for the adolescent population free of the response biases social desirability (SD) and acquiescence (AC). In order to obtain responses free of these biases, we used SD item markers as well as content balanced items to identify a factor related to SD and AC, so that SD and AC effects can be removed from the individual scores on content factors. As well as the CU traits (unemotional, callousness, and uncaring scales), this new questionnaire also contains an additional scale for assessing antisocial behaviors. The test was administered to 719 adolescents between 13 and 19 years old. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis yielded the following expected four dimensions with a good fit: Unemotional, Callousness, Uncaring, and Antisocial Behavior. These scales also showed good psychometric properties with good reliability, and convergent, discriminant and criterion validity.
Highlights
Psychopathic behavior is a complex phenomenon that, together with aggressive behavior, raises noticeable concerns in society and is exacerbated by the spread of violent images in the media
The polychoric correlation matrix was computed for the first sample using 42 items
The results presented above indicate that the INventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits and Antisocial Behavior (INCA) has suitable psychometric properties, good reliability, the expected factor structure and good validity coefficients
Summary
Psychopathic behavior is a complex phenomenon that, together with aggressive behavior, raises noticeable concerns in society and is exacerbated by the spread of violent images in the media. For this reason, a considerable amount of research has been carried out to understand and describe psychopathy. Psychopathy manifests at a relatively early age and it tends to be relatively stable throughout life (Lynam, 1996; Frick et al, 2003b). Its biological basis and the environmental factors involved in its development and which favor its relative stability throughout life are still not well understood (Frick et al, 2003b)
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