Psychopathic Traits In Children Research Articles

In Search of Conceptual Clarity About the Structure of Psychopathic Traits in Children: A Network-Based Proposal.

Psychopathic traits in childhood have been revealed as potential identifiers of risk, being predictive of later forms of behavioral maladjustment. Yet, it is still under debate how psychopathic traits in children should be best conceptualized and which are the core dimensions for construct definition and prediction. The present study aims to examine the structure of psychopathic traits in childhood, and its predictive value, by using a combination of traditional factor analysis and more recent network-based methods. Data on psychopathic traits, as measured by the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI), were collected in a large sample of children (n = 2454; 48.2% girls), aged 3 to 6 at the onset of the study (Mage = 4.26; SD = 0.91), who were followed-up one and two years later using parent- and teacher-reports. Results showed that psychopathic traits measured via CPTI are best conceptualized as five latent factors encompassing grandiosity, deceitfulness, callousness, impulsivity and need of stimulation, a result that converged across informants and time. Callousness and grandiosity emerged as central traits using network analysis of parent-reports, while deceitfulness was most central using teacher-reports. Finally, callousness, impulsivity and deceitfulness emerged as the best predictors of concurrent, prospective and stable conduct problems. These results provide a refined structure of psychopathic traits in children that better accounts for the core elements of the construct. Additional theoretical and practical implications will be discussed in terms of assessment, diagnostic classification and tailored prevention/intervention.

COMT Val/Met and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents: A Systematic Review and New Evidence of a Developmental Trajectory toward Psychopathy.

Psychopathic traits in youth may lead to adult criminal behaviors/psychopathy. The Val158Met polymorphism of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) may influence the risk for psychopathy-related behaviors, while acting as a biomarker for predicting treatment response to dopaminergic medications. The literature shows inconsistent findings, making the interpretation of COMT’s role difficult. The aims of this article are (i) to conduct a systematic review to analyze the effects of COMT Val158Met on psychopathic traits in children and adolescents, and (ii) to present new evidence on the developmental trajectory of the association of Val158Met and youth psychopathic traits. For the systematic review, a literature search was conducted using PubMed, EMBASE, OVID Medline and PsychINFO with the search terms for psychopathic traits, Val158Met and age of interest. In our genotype study, the COMT Val158Met genotype of 293 youth with European ancestry was analyzed in association with the psychopathy-related behavior scores from the Child Behavior Checklist and the Psychopathy Screening Device. To examine the potential influence of developmental changes, the sample was split into at or above and below age 13, and analyses were performed in males and females separately. The literature search yielded twenty-eight articles to be included in the systematic review, which demonstrated mixed results on the association depending on environmental factors, sex ratios, age groups and behavioral disorder diagnoses. The results from our genotype study revealed that Met homozygous youth in the below age 13 group and conversely Val carrier youth in the above age 13 group were more likely to display psychopathic traits. To our knowledge, this is the first study to systematically review the effects of COMT Val158Met on psychopathic traits in childhood and adolescence, and to provide new evidence on the changing effects of Val158Met on psychopathy-related behaviors with development. Elucidating the role of the COMT genotype in conjunction with the child versus adolescent stage of development for psychopathic traits may help predict treatment response, and may lead to early intervention and prevention strategies.

Selfish parents, parenting practices, and psychopathic traits in children.

Parental personality and parenting behavior have been associated with the development of psychopathic traits in offspring. However, no study has examined the effect of parental dispositional selfishness on the development of psychopathic traits in offspring, and the potential mechanism underlying this relationship. To address this issue, parents' reports on their dispositional selfishness, negative and positive parenting behavior, and child's psychopathic traits were collected for a group of children from the community (n=118, 47% male, mean age=14.1years). Results showed that parental selfishness was associated with grandiose-manipulative (GM), daring-impulsive (DI), and callous-unemotional (CU) traits in children. In addition, the egocentric selfishness-GM relationship was indirectly mediated by parenting behavior including lack of involvement, poor monitoring, and inconsistent discipline, whereas the association with CU traits was directly mediated by lack of involvement. These effects remained significant after controlling for child's sex, age, race, social adversity, and a prior measure of psychopathic traits. Findings provide initial empirical evidence on the effect of parental selfishness on a child's psychopathic traits, and further support to the proposition that distinct etiology may underlie different dimensions of psychopathic traits.

Reward processing and psychopathic traits in children.

Growing evidence has suggested that the mechanisms underlying the 3 dimensions of psychopathic traits, including grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and daring-impulsive, are different. As yet, the neurobiological correlates of each dimension have not been fully understood. In this study, we examined if reward processing deficits were differentially associated with these traits, and whether social adversity moderated these relationships. Pre-ejection period (PEP) was assessed in children between 8 and 10 years of age from the community (N = 340, Mage = 9.06, SD = .60; 48.2% boys) while they were completing a reward task, and the caregivers rated children's psychopathic traits. Results indicated that (a) high callous-unemotional traits were associated with less PEP shortening, reflecting reward hyporesponsivity, at low levels of social adversity, and more PEP shortening, indicating hyperresponsivity, at high levels of social adversity, (b) high daring-impulsive traits were associated with hyperresponsivity at low levels of adversity only, and (c) grandiose-manipulative traits were not linked to reward processing deficits. Findings provide further evidence that different etiologies may underlie various dimensions of psychopathic traits and highlight the important role of psychosocial factors in understanding the neurobiological mechanism of youth psychopathy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

The Effects of Age and Sex on the Interaction Between Monoamine Oxidase A VNTR and Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents

Psychopathy-related behaviors increase the risk of youth violence and death. The mixed results in the literature regarding the association between Monoamine Oxidase A (MAOA)-VNTR and psychopathy in children demonstrate that both sex and age can influence the contribution of the MAOA gene. This study examines the developmental trajectory of the association between sex, MAOA-VNTR, and psychopathic traits in a unique sample of clinically aggressive children.

Les traits pré-psychopathiques chez l’enfant et l’adolescent : aspects développementaux, structuraux et étiopathogéniques

In recent years, the number of publications related to the extension, expression and identification of psychopathic traits in children and adolescents has increased steadily. The status of these personality facets is the subject of heated debate in the international literature, which tends to question the theoretical and empirical foundations of a transposition of the components of the construction of psychopathy in childhood. This review therefore aims to draw up a synthetic and critical overview of the conceptual positions and scientific findings that justify the relevance as well as the therapeutic and preventive interests of early consideration of certain behavioral, affective and relational specificities indicating a possible pre-psychopathic organization. The aim of this article is to discuss the developmental anchorage of psychopathic manifestations, to present works relating to their evaluation and measurement in children and adolescents, as well as theoretical modelling around the structure and semiological and phenotypical expression of pre-psychopathic dimensions. This will then lead us to emphasize the evidence for the stability and persistence of psychopathic features through the years, as well as their emotional and moral correlates. Finally, we will discuss some etiological considerations before concluding on the predictive value of these personality traits in trajectories of aggressiveness and delinquency, but also in the context of prognosis of the evolution of conduct disorder symptomatology.

Psychopathic traits in children and youth: The state-of-the-art after 30 years of research

The study of psychopathic traits in children and youth vastly increased after Forth, Hart, and Hare published a first paper on the topic in 1990. This state-of-the-art review of psychopathic traits in children and youth focuses on the: (a) reflection on the construct, while approaching historical, conceptual, ethical and legal issues; (b) etiological theories most referred to in the literature, highlighting the importance of considering an integrative etiological perspective; (c) assessment issues, including the existing assessment measures; and (d) treatment needs and available treatment efforts. By discussing the state-of-the-art on the topic of psychopathic traits in children and youth, we will present possible avenues for research and for preventive and intervention effective efforts as the study of child and adolescent psychopathy progresses.

Psychometric Properties of the Spanish Version of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory in 3- to 12-Year-Old Spanish Children

Abstract. The aim of this study was to test the reliability and validity of the Spanish teacher-rated Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) in two community samples of 3- to 12-year-old children. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) supported the three-factor structure of the CPTI (Grandiose-Deceitful: GD; Callous-Unemotional: CU; Impulsive-Need for Stimulation: INS), being invariant across gender and age groups. The CPTI total and factor scores showed excellent internal consistencies (> .90) in the total group, and across gender and age groups. In support of their criterion validity, the CPTI scores were positively related to psychopathy scores as measured by an alternative teacher-rated measure. In support of their convergent validity, the CPTI scores showed the expected relations to variables that have been linked to psychopathic personality, including fearlessness, conduct problems, aggression, and low prosocial behavior. Overall, these findings suggest that the Spanish teacher-rated version of the CPTI has good psychometric properties and seems to be a promising tool for studying psychopathic traits in children.

The Child Problematic Traits Inventory in China: A multiple informant-based validation study.

The aim of this study was to further test the reliability and validity of a newly developed instrument designed to assess psychopathic traits in children, the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI). Teachers and mothers of 686 approximately 6- to 12-year-old children (48.1% girls) completed the CPTI. Confirmatory factor analyses supported the proposed 3-factor structure of the CPTI teacher and parent versions and good to excellent internal consistency of the teacher- and mother-based CPTI scores were found. The validity of the teacher- and mother-based CPTI scores was supported by revealing the expected relations with conduct problems, hyperactivity, and various dimensions of temperament. In conclusion, the results suggest that the CPTI holds promise as a teacher- and parent-rated tool for assessing psychopathic traits in Chinese children, although more research is needed to see if these findings can be generalized to other Chinese samples and settings. (PsycINFO Database Record

Are Callous Unemotional (CU) Traits Enough?

A guiding question for this special section, sparked by the increasing number of studies on callous –unemotional traits (CU traits) and the DSM-5 Limited Prosocial Emotion (LPE) specifier, is whether CU traits are enough to identify a clinically meaningful subgroup of youth with conduct problems or whether other psychopathic traits contribute. Seven empirical papers and two commentary papers address this question to varying degrees and in different ways with some papers “competing” various models against one another along with other papers investigating distinct correlates of the psychopathy factors. Findings across the papers suggest that there could be benefits to examining the broader construct of psychopathy in addition to examining its underpinning dimensions rather than CU traits alone. Two commentary papers also shed light on the importance of psychopathic traits in children with Conduct Disorder (CD) and provide insights for future work on this topic. It is hoped that the articles and commentary will generate new ideas for research and practice that could have implications for the treatment of those individuals with CD and psychopathic traits.

Multidimensionality of Youth Psychopathic Traits: Validation and Future Directions

The seven articles featured in this Special Section on “Child Psychopathic Traits for Specifying Conduct Disorder” collectively prosecute an important tension in the field: despite evidence that psychopathic traits in children, adolescent, and adults are multidimensional, callous-unemotional (CU) traits have evolved to nearly eclipse the construct of youth psychopathic traits. That is, does inclusion of grandiosity and impulsivity, and related psychopathic constructs improve predictive models? Employing a rich array of methods, these studies converged to suggest that using the entire constellation of psychopathic traits significantly improved predictions of key criteria. Crucially, predictions were consistent across development, multiple external criteria, and diversely recruited samples (e.g., community, incarcerated). From a developmental psychopathology framework (Cicchetti 2008), I synthesize the theoretical and empirical implications of these studies and offer perspectives on future directions. In particular, there is an urgent need to elucidate mechanisms from psychopathic traits to important clinical, public health, and functional outcomes; identification of potential causal processes is necessary to establish the validity of psychopathic traits and to ultimately innovate intervention and prevention efforts.

Callous-Unemotional Traits in Children and Adolescents

Abstract. The Inventory of Callous and Unemotional Traits (ICU) was developed to measure callous-unemotional (CU) psychopathic traits in children and adolescents. Studies that have examined the factor structure of ICU showed considerable controversy. The aim of this study was to examine the factor structure and psychometric proprieties of the Portuguese translation of the ICU. A total of 1,011 children and adolescents (495 boys and 516 girls), mean age of 13.36 years, participated in this study. Exploratory factor analysis produced two factors: uncaring and callousness; Cronbach’s α for each of the factor was .83 and .79 for the total score. Significant main gender and interaction between gender and age effects were found; girls reported lower CU traits than boys; children reported higher CU traits compared to preadolescents and adolescents, particularly in boys. CU also correlated with emotional symptoms, conduct problems, and psychosocial impairment. Furthermore, CU traits related to conduct problems both in boys and in girls, although this relationship was higher for boys. To conclude, findings of the present study showed that the Portuguese version of the ICU seems to be a reliable and valid instrument to assess CU traits among children and adolescents in Portugal. However, the original 3-factor model was not supported.

Research Review: What do we know about psychopathic traits in children?

Research on the topic of child psychopathy has advanced over the past decade increasing what we know. This qualitative review examines the research base for child psychopathy and emphasizes its three dimensions: grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and daring-impulsive. Literature is reviewed addressing the cognitive, emotional, motivational, personality, parenting, and biological correlates. Support has emerged for the phenotypic construct of child psychopathy, while questions remain regarding definitional issues and key external correlates (e.g., reward and punishment processing, parenting, molecular genetics, brain imaging). While the construct appears to be valid, future work should broaden its focus from callous unemotional traits to all three dimensions of the construct, enhance measurement precision, and examine dimension interactions. Such research could have important implications for CD specification for future versions of the DSM and ICD and speed etiological knowledge and clinical care for youth with conduct problems.

Interaction between prenatal maternal stress and autonomic arousal in predicting conduct problems and psychopathic traits in children.

Evidence has suggested that neurobiological deficits combine with psychosocial risk factors to impact on the development of antisocial behavior. The current study concentrated on the interplay of prenatal maternal stress and autonomic arousal in predicting antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Prenatal maternal stress was assessed by caregiver's retrospective report, and resting heart rate and respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA) were measured in 295 8- to 10-year-old children. Child and caregiver also reported on child's antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. Higher prenatal maternal stress was associated with higher caregiver-reported antisocial and psychopathy scores, even after the concurrent measure of social adversity was controlled for. As expected, low heart rate and high RSA were associated with high antisocial and psychopathic traits. More importantly, significant interaction effects were found; prenatal stress was positively associated with multiple dimensions of psychopathic traits only on the conditions of low arousal (e.g., low heart rate or high RSA). Findings provide further support for a biosocial perspective of antisocial and psychopathic traits, and illustrate the importance of integrating biological with psychosocial measures to fully understand the etiology of behavioral problems.

The Roles of Maternal Psychopathic Traits, Maternal Antisocial Personality Traits, and Parenting in the Development of Child Psychopathic Traits

SYNOPSISObjective. The development of psychopathic traits in children has been largely understudied compared with the etiology of these traits in adults; therefore, this study aims to elucidate factors that may be involved in the development of psychopathic traits in childhood. Design. The potential impact of maternal personality traits on parenting practices and child personality were examined. Specifically, statistical relations were examined among maternal psychopathic traits, maternal antisocial personality traits, and child psychopathic traits, and the role of parenting as a potential mediator and/or moderator of these relations within an all-male sample (N = 75) between the ages of 7 and 11 years. Results. Parenting mediated the relation between maternal antisocial personality traits and child psychopathic traits, but not the relation between maternal and child psychopathic traits. In addition, positive parenting interacted statistically with maternal psychopathic traits, such that maternal and child psychopathic traits were related only when positive parenting practices were lacking. Conclusion. These findings support the consideration of parenting as a point of intervention in the prevention of childhood psychopathic traits.

Measurement and structural invariance of the Antisocial Process Screening Device.

Despite increasing study of psychopathic traits in children and adolescents, evidence regarding the factor structure of these traits has been inconsistent across community, clinic-referred, and incarcerated samples. Empirical support exists for both 2-factor (Impulsivity-Conduct Problems and Callous-Unemotional) and 3-factor (Narcissism, Callous-Unemotional, and Impulsivity) models, and factorial invariance across various samples has not been either tested or supported in the extant literature. We conducted confirmatory factor analyses of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Hare, 2001) in 838 nonreferred twin pairs (M = 10.57 years, SD = 3.19 years) and 251 clinic-referred children (M = 10.82 years, SD = 3.39 years). Factorial invariance was tested across zygosity (monozygotic vs. dizygotic twins), sex (males vs. females), and age (younger vs. older children, divided by median age of 10.37 years) in the community sample and across sample type in both the community and clinic-referred samples. Results suggested that the 3-factor model fit better than did the 2-factor model in both community and clinic-referred samples. Using the best fitting 3-factor model, full measurement and structural invariance were found across zygosity, sex, and age in the community sample. Full measurement and structural invariance were also found across sample type except for differences in factor means across samples, suggesting excellent psychometric properties of the APSD. These results strongly support the robustness of the 3-factor model of psychopathic traits in children as well as the generalizability of the APSD across samples.

Self-Reported Psychopathic Traits in Children: Their Stability and Concurrent and Prospective Association with Conduct Problems and Aggression

The current study investigated the 18-month stability of self-reported psychopathic traits measured through the Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory–Child Version (YPI-CV) and their concurrent and prospective associations with conduct problems and aggression in a sample of 9–12 year olds (n = 159, 52% boys) from the community. Self-reported psychopathy scores were moderately to highly stable and traits were positively related to conduct problems both concurrently and at follow-up, the latter even after controlling for initial levels of conduct problems. Higher self-reported psychopathic traits were also related to higher reactive, but particularly proactive aggression at follow-up. Finally, children with persistently high levels of psychopathic traits exhibited higher levels of conduct problems and proactive aggression at follow-up than those with unstable or stable low psychopathic traits.

Psychometric Properties of the Antisocial Process Screening Device in a Non-Clinical Sample of Turkish Children

The aim of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick and Hare, 2002) to be used with non-clinical Turkish samples. APSD is a 20-item scale that evaluates antisocial behaviors and the presence of psychopathic traits in children between 6-13 years of age. Study 1 was designed to check the internal consistency and test-retest and inter-rater reliabilities. Despite satisfactory test-retest and inter-rater reliability coefficients, the Cronbach alpha coefficients of the Callous Unemotional (CU) dimension were very low in all the three forms (parent, teacher, and combined). Study 2 was designed to check the internal consistency after conducting the revisions and also validity analyses, mainly by using the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ; Goodman, 1997). Consequently, the Turkish version of APSD showed reliable and valid results to evaluate the psychopathic traits and antisocial behaviors of the children between 8-11 years of age in the non-clinical Turkish sample.

Social and emotional detachment: A cross‐cultural comparison of the non‐disruptive behavioural psychopathic traits in children

Questions about the international reliability and validity of aspects of psychopathy have been raised for adults, but hardly considered when applying the constructs to children. Our aim was to compare the psychometrics of a new instrument to measure psychopathic traits in children between two countries - the Netherlands and Greece. We also tested the hypothesis that, in both countries, both narcissistic-egocentric and callous-unemotional dimensions would be related to observed behavioural disorders. The Social and Emotional Detachment Questionnaire was used to assess narcissistic-egocentric and callous-unemotional dimensions of personality in representative national and community samples of 4-12-year-old children in the Netherlands and Greece, respectively. Parents filled in the questionnaires anonymously and also provided ratings of conduct disorders. A two-dimensional construct of the psychopathic syndrome depicting, respectively, narcissistic and unemotional traits was reliable and valid in both countries, although there was considerable correlation between these two dimensions, which we designated 'social detachment' and 'emotional detachment', respectively. In both countries, the composite of social and emotional detachment was associated with aggressive and antisocial conduct disorders. The reliability, validity and predictive value of this questionnaire must be tested further, for example, through multiple informants and longitudinally, but our findings that the tool performs robustly in two very different European countries is encouraging in terms of its potential value as a clinical screening tool and a tool for furthering the understanding of serious behavioural disorders in children.

Assessment of Psychopathic Traits in Children and Adolescents

The study examined the reliability and validity of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) and the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS) in a community sample of 182 Flemish adolescents in the age range of 9 to 19 years. Data were gathered by means of parent, teacher, and self-report, and the factor structure was examined by means of confirmatory factor analysis. Internal consistencies of the resulting scales and associations with measures of disruptive behavior disorders and internalizing problem behaviors were explored. Results confirmed the underlying a priori structure of both APSD and CPS.