Disentangling the Underlying Dimensions of Psychopathy and Conduct Problems in Childhood: A Community Study.

Abstract

The psychometric and predictive validity of callous-unemotional (CU) traits as an early precursor of conduct disorder and antisocial behavior were assessed. A community sample of children (4-9 years of age) were tested 12 months apart with the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; P. J. Frick & R. D. Hare, 2002), a measure of early signs of psychopathy in children. Factor analysis supported the structure of the APSD. Given controversy surrounding construct overlap between psychopathy and conduct problems, a factor analysis was conducted on pooled items from the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire and APSD. A 5-factor solution resulted: antisocial, hyperactivity, CU traits, anxiety, and peer problems. CU traits added small but significant improvements in the 12-month prediction of antisocial behavior for boys and older girls, after controlling for Time 1 measures. These results indicate that although the dimensions of the APSD overlap with dimensions of the disruptive behavior disorders, CU traits have unique predictive validity in childhood.

When to Use Broader Internalising and Externalising Subscales Instead of the Hypothesised Five Subscales on the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ): Data from British Parents, Teachers and Children

“…These may be important in revealing aspects of convergent or discriminant validity for the SDQ subscales which are not apparent here. For example, factor analyses in an Australian sample of 4 to 9 year olds provide some evidence that parent-reported callous and unemotional traits (from a psychopathy measure) load with the prosocial SDQ items but not the behavioral or hyperactive items (Dadds, Fraser, Frost, & Hawes, 2005). This was not apparent in B-CAMHS04, however, where the magnitude of the correlation between the prosocial subscale and callous and unemotional traits was intermediate between the behavioral and hyperactivity subscales (Moran, et al, 2009).…”

Psychopathy and behavior problems: A comparison of incarcerated male and female juvenile delinquents

“…No significant differences were found between the male and female groups regarding psychopathy scores. Dadds, Fraser, Frost, and Hawes (2005) assessed the psychometric and predictive validity of CU traits as an early precursor of conduct disorder and antisocial behavior in a community sample of children (4-9 years of age). CU traits contributed small but significant improvements to the 12-month prediction of antisocial behavior for boys and older girls.…”

Interpersonal and Affective Dimensions of Psychopathic Traits in Adolescents: Development and Validation of a Self-Report Instrument

“…Generally, among males and females recruited from clinical and community samples, the former tend to have higher psychopathy scores [76][77][78]. With adjudicated delinquents some studies report none or very few gender differences [79,80] while others report that females score higher than males on impulsivity and conduct problems, but not on Callous…”