Psychopathic Traits in Youth and Associations with Temperamental Features

The present study aims to disentangle motivational and self-regulatory pathways to psychopathic traits in youth with severe antisocial behavior. The associations between self-reported psychopathic traits and indices derived from a laboratory measure assessing fear sensitivity and self-regulation were evaluated. Low scores on fear sensitivity and self-regulation were related to high scores on the self-reported Callous/Unemotional factor of psychopathic traits and the Callousness dimension in particular. The present study provides at least partial evidence for both motivational (low-fear hypothesis; Lykken, 1995 ) and self-regulatory (response modulation hypothesis; Patterson & Newman, 1993 ) accounts of psychopathic traits in youth.

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Dysfunctional neurocognition in individuals with clinically significant psychopathic traits

Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience ◽

10.31887/dcns.2019.21.3/rblair ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 21 (3) ◽

pp. 291-299 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Moral Judgments ◽

Emotional Stimuli ◽

Emotional Responsiveness ◽

Drug Cues ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Emotional Responding ◽

Callous Unemotional Traits ◽

Clinically Significant

The main goal of this review is to consider the main forms of dysfunctional neurocognition seen in individuals with clinically significant psychopathic traits (ie, reduced guilt/empathy and increased impulsive/antisocial behavior). A secondary goal is to examine the extent to which these forms of dysfunction are seen in both adults with psychopathic traits and adolescents with clinically significant antisocial behavior that may also involve callous-unemotional traits (reduced guilt/empathy). The two main forms of neurocognition considered are emotional responding (to distress/pain cues and emotional stimuli more generally) and reward-related processing. Highly related forms of neurocognition, the response to drug cues and moral judgments, are also discussed. It is concluded that dysfunction in emotional responsiveness and moral judgments confers risk for aggression across adolescence and into adulthood. However, reduced reward-related processing, including to drug cues, is only consistently found in adolescents with clinically significant antisocial behavior, not adults with psychopathy.

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Parental Antisocial and Psychopathic Traits Influence Adolescent Psychopathology

International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology ◽

10.1177/0306624x211013517 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 0306624X2110135

Author(s):

Kostas A. Fanti ◽

Alexandros Lordos

Keyword(s):

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Adolescent Psychopathology ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Equation Model ◽

Hyperactivity Disorder ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Oppositional Defiant ◽

Callous Unemotional Traits

The role of parental antisocial behavior in the development of adolescent psychopathology is well established in the literature. However, less is known about the role of parental psychopathic traits in offspring psychopathology. Adolescents (N = 210; boys = 107) and their parents participated in a study measuring parental antisocial behavior, psychopathic traits (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, impulsive-irresponsibility, and grandiosity), and adolescent psychopathology, including depression, anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). Results from the structural equation model suggested that maternal antisocial acts, but not anger propensity, positively predicted adolescent CD, ODD, and depressive symptoms. Paternal anger propensity mainly predicted internalizing problems, whereas paternal impulsive-irresponsibility predicted anxiety and ADHD symptoms. In addition, findings pointed to several indirect effects from maternal and paternal psychopathic traits to adolescent psychopathology, with the strongest one being between maternal impulsive-irresponsibility to maternal antisocial acts to adolescent ODD. The findings suggest that parental antisocial behaviors and psychopathic traits, and especially impulsive-irresponsibility, should be considered in interventions aiming to reduce adolescent psychopathology.

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Dimensions of Psychopathic Traits in a Community Sample

European Journal of Psychological Assessment ◽

10.1027/1015-5759/a000478 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 1-11

Author(s):

Hedwig Eisenbarth ◽

Luna C. M. Centifanti

Keyword(s):

Construct Validity ◽

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Community Sample ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Self Report ◽

Psychopathic Personality ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Psychopathic Personality Inventory ◽

Two Measures ◽

Antisocial Personality Traits

Abstract. There are valid measures of psychopathic traits in youth, such as the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI). However, it is unclear how another self-report measure, which is based on a different conceptualization of psychopathy relates to the YPI in youth and to antisocial behavior. We therefore, compared the construct validity of two measures: the personality-based Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) and the YPI – based on adult antisocial personality traits. First, both measures showed sufficient model fit and some overlap in their variance, particularly YPI impulsive-irresponsible and grandiose-manipulative factors with PPI-R self-centered impulsivity, as well as YPI callous-unemotional with PPI-R coldheartedness. We found that although overall delinquency was correlated with PPI-R and YPI subscales, only the self-centered impulsivity factor of the PPI-R and only the Impulsive-Irresponsibility domain of the YPI were statistically predictive of self-reported antisocial behavior. Thus, the PPI-R and the YPI both show moderate construct validity and criterion validity for use among young community adults.

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Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate Anticipated Guilt and Wrongness Judgments to Everyday Moral Transgressions in Adolescents

Frontiers in Psychiatry ◽

10.3389/fpsyt.2021.625328 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Margarida Vasconcelos ◽

Essi Viding ◽

Catherine L. Sebastian ◽

Susana Faria ◽

Pedro R. Almeida ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Antisocial Behavior ◽

Longitudinal Research ◽

Psychopathic Traits ◽

Moral Judgments ◽

Affective Processing ◽

Childhood And Adolescence ◽

Cu Traits ◽

Callous Unemotional ◽

Animated Cartoon ◽

Moral Transgressions

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits observed during childhood and adolescence are thought to be precursors of psychopathic traits in adulthood. Adults with high levels of psychopathic traits typically present antisocial behavior. Such behavior can be indicative of atypical moral processing. Evidence suggests that moral dysfunction in these individuals may stem from a disruption of affective components of moral processing rather than from an inability to compute moral judgments per se. No study to date has tested if the dissociation between affective and cognitive dimensions of moral processing linked to psychopathic traits in adulthood is also linked to CU traits during development. Here, 47 typically developing adolescents with varying levels of CU traits completed a novel, animated cartoon task depicting everyday moral transgressions and indicated how they would feel in such situations and how morally wrong the situations were. Adolescents with higher CU traits reported reduced anticipated guilt and wrongness appraisals of the transgressions. However, our key finding was a significant interaction between CU traits and anticipated guilt in predicting wrongness judgments. The strength of the association between anticipated guilt and wrongness judgement was significantly weaker for those with higher levels of CU traits. This evidence extends our knowledge on the cognitive-affective processing deficits that may underlie moral dysfunction in youth who are at heightened risk for antisocial behavior and psychopathy in adulthood. Future longitudinal research is required to elucidate whether there is an increased dissociation between different components of moral processing from adolescence to adulthood for those with high psychopathic traits.

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