Studying Configurations of Psychopathic Traits: Exploring the Viability of Psychopathic Personality in Early ChildhoodShow others and affiliations
2021 (English)In: Journal of Personality Disorders, ISSN 0885-579X, E-ISSN 1943-2763, Vol. 35, p. 97-U141Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]
The idea that very young children can manifest a constellation of personality traits that looks like psychopathy has rarely been explored. To fill this void, data from 2,247 children, aged 3-6 years (M = 4.25; SD = 0.91), from the Estudio Longitudinal para una Infancia Saludable (ELISA) were utilized. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Using three parent-rated psychopathy dimensions as indicators, the authors conducted latent profile analysis and arrived at five latent classes: Control (39.2%), Impulsive-Need for Stimulation (34.8%), Grandiose-Deceitful (16.5%), Callous-Unemotional (6.2%), and Putative Psychopathic Personality (PP, 3.3%). Children in the PP class, overall, engaged in higher levels of concurrent, future, and stable conduct problems and reactive and proactive aggression, and lower levels of prosocial behavior, as rated by parents or teachers. Findings also revealed meaningful differences between the remaining four classes. Person-oriented analyses seem to offer a fruitful avenue to identify 3- to 6-year-olds who exhibit a putative psychopathic personality and are at risk for future maladjustment.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Guilford Publications, 2021. Vol. 35, p. 97-U141
Keywords [en]
Conduct problems, early childhood, impulsivity, limited prosocial emotions, profiles, psychopathic traits
National Category
Applied Psychology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-93985DOI: 10.1521/pedi_2021_35_538ISI: 000720765000006PubMedID: 34463532OAI: oai:DiVA.org:oru-93985DiVA, id: diva2:1589802
Note
Funding agencies:
FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades - Agencia Estatal de Investigacion PSI2015-65766-R 2019-PN103
Xunta de Galicia, under the Programa de Axudas a Etapa Posdoutoral da Xunta de Galicia (2017)
Axudas para a Consolidacion e Estruturacion de Unidades de Investigacion Competitivas e outras Accions de Fomento nas Univeridades
GRC, 2018 (Conselleria de Cultura, Educacion e Ordenacion Universitaria)
Xunta de Galicia
2021-09-012021-09-012021-12-01Bibliographically approved