The association between toddlerhood empathy deficits and antisocial personality disorder symptoms and psychopathy in adulthood

Abstract The present study examined empathy deficits in toddlerhood (age 14 to 36 months) as predictors of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) symptoms and psychopathy measured by the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy scale (Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995) in adulthood (age 23 years) in 956 individuals from the Colorado Longitudinal Twin Study. Consistent with the hypothesis that antisocial behavior is associated with “active” rather than “passive” empathy deficits, early disregard for others, not lack of concern for others, predicted later ASPD symptoms. Early disregard for others was also significantly associated with factor 1 of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, which includes items assessing interpersonal and affective deficits, but not with factor 2, which includes items assessing impulsivity and poor behavioral control. The association between early disregard for others and psychopathy factor 2 was near zero after controlling for the shared variance between psychopathy factors 1 and 2. These results suggest that there is a propensity toward adulthood ASPD symptoms and psychopathy factor 1 that can be assessed early in development, which may help identify individuals most at risk for stable antisocial outcomes.

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Genetic and Environmental Structure of DSM-IV Criteria for Antisocial Personality Disorder: A Twin Study

Behavior Genetics ◽

10.1007/s10519-016-9833-z ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 47 (3) ◽

pp. 265-277 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Tom Rosenström ◽

Eivind Ystrom ◽

Fartein Ask Torvik ◽

Nikolai Olavi Czajkowski ◽

Nathan A. Gillespie ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Twin Study ◽

Antisocial Personality ◽

Environmental Structure ◽

Dsm Iv

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Is antisocial personality disorder continuous or categorical? A taxometric analysis

Psychological Medicine ◽

10.1017/s0033291706008245 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 36 (11) ◽

pp. 1571-1581 ◽

Cited By ~ 59

Author(s):

DAVID K. MARCUS ◽

SCOTT O. LILIENFELD ◽

JOHN F. EDENS ◽

NORMAN G. POYTHRESS

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Statistical Power ◽

Structured Interview ◽

Self Report ◽

Latent Structure ◽

Antisocial Personality ◽

Taxometric Analysis ◽

Dsm Iv ◽

State Prisons

Background. Although the DSM-IV-TR is organized into discrete disorders, the question of whether a given disorder possesses a dimensional or a categorical latent structure is an empirical one that can be examined using taxometric methods. The objective of this study was to ascertain the latent structure of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD).Method. Participants were 1146 male offenders incarcerated in state prisons (n=569), or court-ordered to residential drug treatment (n=577). Participants were interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis II Personality Disorders (SCID-II) to assess ASPD symptoms; they also completed the Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire-4 (PDQ-4) ASPD scale. Taxometric analyses were performed to examine whether ASPD is underpinned by a discrete category or a dimensional construct.Results. Multiple taxometric procedures using two different sets of indicators provided no evidence that ASPD has a taxonic latent structure. Instead, the results were far more consistent with the proposition that ASPD exists on a continuum, regardless of whether it is assessed using a structured interview or a self-report measure.Conclusions. Evidence that ASPD is dimensional suggests that it is best studied using continuous measures and that dichotomizing individuals into ASPD versus non-ASPD groups will typically result in decreased statistical power. The findings are also consistent with a multifactorial etiology for ASPD and with recent attempts to conceptualize ASPD within the framework of extant dimensional models of personality.

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A twin study of the association between pathological gambling and antisocial personality disorder.

Journal of Abnormal Psychology ◽

10.1037/0021-843x.110.2.297 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 110 (2) ◽

pp. 297-308 ◽

Cited By ~ 111

Author(s):

Wendy S. Slutske ◽

Seth Eisen ◽

Hong Xian ◽

William R. True ◽

Michael J. Lyons ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Pathological Gambling ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Twin Study ◽

Antisocial Personality

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Which is better--self-report or interview-based assessment of antisocial personality disorder?

PsycEXTRA Dataset ◽

10.1037/e487782008-002 ◽

2008 ◽

Author(s):

L. S. Guy ◽

N. G. Poythress ◽

K. S. Douglas ◽

J. L. Skeem ◽

J. F. Edens

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Self Report ◽

Antisocial Personality

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Specifying the Connection Between Reward Processing and Antisocial Psychopathology Across Development

The Oxford Handbook of Positive Emotion and Psychopathology ◽

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780190653200.013.21 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 311-332

Author(s):

Suzanne Estrada ◽

Scott Tillem ◽

Allison Stuppy-Sullivan ◽

Arielle Baskin-Sommers

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Conduct Disorder ◽

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Reward Processing ◽

Self Report ◽

Antisocial Personality ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Callous Unemotional Traits ◽

Unemotional Traits

Antisocial behavior is a heterogeneous construct that includes a range of behavioral problems and psychopathologies. With regard to classification, children and adolescents may be identified as having conduct disorder or callous–unemotional traits; whereas adults may be identified as having antisocial personality disorder or psychopathy. The adverse consequences of the behaviors and diagnoses related to this construct produce great burdens for the perpetrators, victims, family members, and society at large. Research has focused on identifying various factors contributing to antisocial behavior, with reward processing among one of the most studied. This chapter synthesizes self-report, behavioral, electrophysiological, and neuroimaging literature on reward processing in antisocial behavior across development. Findings are organized regarding key reward constructs within the Positive Valence Systems domain of the Research Domain Criteria matrix. Overall, children with conduct disorder display deficits in action selection, responsivity to reward, and reward prediction that result in risky choices, impaired performance in the face of reward, and poor integration of reward information. By contrast, children with callous–unemotional traits demonstrate poor reward learning and use of reward cues. In adults, those with antisocial personality disorder display deficits in reward valuation; whereas those with psychopathy show context-dependent abnormalities in multiple components of reward processing. Ultimately, an integrative focus on abnormal reward processing across subtypes of individuals who engage in antisocial behavior might help refine the phenotype and improve the prediction of onset and recovery of these disorders.

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Psychopathy/Antisocial Personality Disorder Conundrum

Australian & New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry ◽

10.1080/j.1440-1614.2006.01834.x ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 40 (6-7) ◽

pp. 519-528 ◽

Cited By ~ 106

Author(s):

James R.P. Ogloff

Keyword(s):

Personality Disorder ◽

Antisocial Personality Disorder ◽

Contemporary Literature ◽

Violence Risk ◽

Antisocial Personality ◽

Psychopathy Checklist ◽

Psychopathy Checklist Revised ◽

Affective Deficits ◽

Hare Psychopathy Checklist ◽

Research Findings

Psychopathy has traditionally been characterised as a disorder primarily of personality (particularly affective deficits) and, to a lesser extent, behaviour. Although often used interchangeably, the diagnostic constructs of psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, and dissocial personality disorder are distinct. In this article, the relevant historical and contemporary literature concerning psychopathy is briefly reviewed. The diagnostic criteria for psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder, and dissocial personality disorder are compared. Consideration is given to the assessment, prevalence, and implications of psychopathy for violence risk and treatment efficacy. The DSM-IV-TR criteria for antisocial personality disorder, in particular, are largely behaviourally based. The ICD criteria for dissocial personality disorder, while paying more attention to affective deficits, also do not represent the broad personality and behavioural components of psychopathy. Since 1980, a great deal of research on these disorders has been conducted, using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist, Revised (PCL-R). The PCL-R assesses both personality (interpersonal and affective) and behavioural (lifestyle and antisocial) deficits. As such, the research and clinical implications of psychopathy, as operationalised by the PCL-R, cannot be readily extrapolated to the diagnoses of antisocial personality disorder and dissocial personality disorder. As currently construed, the diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder grossly over-identifies people, particularly those with offence histories, as meeting the criteria for the diagnosis. For example, research shows that between 50% and 80% of prisoners meet the criteria for a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder, yet only approximately 15% of prisoners would be expected to be psychopathic, as assessed by the PCL-R. As such, the characteristics and research findings drawn from the psychopathy research may not be relevant for those with antisocial or dissocial personality disorder.

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