Exposure to childhood trauma is particularly prevalent among incarcerated juveniles. Although there is a growing understanding of the detrimental impact trauma exposure can have on child and adolescent development, childhood maltreatment can be very difficult to accurately measure. Integration of self-report trauma histories as well as supplemental file reports of trauma exposure may provide the most accurate estimate of experienced trauma among youth in correctional settings. Method: The current study developed an expert-rated assessment of trauma that synthesizes self-report, as well as objective file information, using a sample of 114 incarcerated male juveniles. Results: In addition to establishing scale factor structure, reliability, and validity, the current study provides additional evidence of the prevalence of trauma among incarcerated juveniles and reports on external correlates of the scale that are particularly relevant in correctional settings (e.g., psychopathic traits). Conclusion: These results suggest that the integration of both self-report and file material can be meaningfully used to assess traumatic symptomology. Clinical Impact StatementThis study demonstrates that self-report trauma histories as well as supplemental file reports of trauma exposure can be meaningfully integrated to provide a more complete assessment of trauma exposure among adjudicated adolescents. These findings highlight need for an expert-rated measure of childhood trauma among incarcerated youth, and demonstrate utility of a novel trauma assessment.

Youth with severe conduct problems impose a significant cost on society by engaging in high levels of antisocial and aggressive behavior. Within this group, adolescents with high levels of callous- unemotional traits have been found to exhibit more severe and persistent patterns of antisocial behavior than youth with severe conduct problems but normative levels of callous-unemotional traits. Existing neuroimaging studies, along with theoretical accounts of psychopathology, suggest that dysfunction within the paralimbic cortex and limbic system may underlie elevated levels of callous-unemotional traits. The present study examines this hypothesis by investigating gray matter correlates associated with callous-unemotional traits. A sample of incarcerated male adolescents (N = 269), were assessed using voxel-based morphometry. Callous-unemotional traits were assessed using the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional traits (Frick 2004). Total callous-unemotional traits were negatively correlated with anterior temporal lobe gray matter volume (GMV). Callous traits in particular exhibited a reliable negative correlation with gray matter volume in nearly every paralimbic brain region examined. Uncaring traits were positively correlated with GMV in the orbitofrontal and anterior cingulate cortices. These findings demonstrate specific neural features within the paralimbic cortex and limbic system that accompany elevated callous-unemotional traits and serves to expand our understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms that may give rise to severe conduct problems in youth.

This project assessed the relationship between psychopathic traits, racial identity, and violent behavior in 257 delinquent boys. The Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL:YV) was administered to youth across a 7-year window. The group was then followed for a mean of 14.7 years (range = 9.3 to 18.5 years), to determine if the presence of psychopathic features in adolescence predicted violent recidivism in adulthood. After controlling for race, Facet 3 was predictive of violent recidivism, whereas PCL:YV total score and all other Facets were not. Overall, African American youth obtained significantly higher PCL:YV scores and had higher rates of violent recidivism than did Caucasian youth, even when controlling for urban status. Implications for the use of the PCL:YV in clinical and legal settings will be discussed in light of the need for further research to be conducted on psychopathic traits in minority adolescents.

Investigations into the neurobiology of moral cognition are often done by examining clinical populations characterized by diminished moral emotions and a proclivity toward immoral behavior. Psychopathy is the most common disorder studied for this purpose. Although cocaine abuse is highly co-morbid with psychopathy and cocaine-dependent individuals exhibit many of the same abnormalities in socio-affective processing as psychopaths, this population has received relatively little attention in moral psychology. To address this issue, the authors used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to record hemodynamic activity in 306 incarcerated male adults, stratified into regular cocaine users (n = 87) and a matched sample of non-cocaine users (n = 87), while viewing pictures that did or did not depict immoral actions and determining whether each depicted scenario occurred indoors or outdoors. Consistent with expectations, cocaine users showed abnormal neural activity in several frontostriatial regions during implicit moral picture processing compared to their non-cocaine using peers. This included reduced moral/non-moral picture discrimination in the vACC, vmPFC, lOFC, and left vSTR. Additionally, psychopathy was negatively correlated with activity in an overlapping region of the ACC and right lateralized vSTR. These results suggest that regular cocaine abuse may be associated with affective deficits which can impact relatively high-level processes like moral cognition.