To Örebro University

This study examined the predictive value of the three dimensions of youth psychopathic personality towards delinquency, on delinquency through the application of hierarchical regression analysis, while controlling for gender. Dimensions being: Callous/Unemotional-, Impulsive/Irresponsible-, and Grandiose/Manipulative traits. The study included 891 (48% female) Swedish adolescents from a community sample with a mean age of 14.28 (SD=.94) years. A self-report instrument was used to assess psychopathic traits in youth, the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), consisting of 50 items and is specifically designed to lower the risk of response bias. Results: It was discovered that Impulsivity/Irresponsible behavior predicted statistically significant 14% of the variance in delinquency, and gender significantly predicted 4%. Callous/Unemotional predicted non-significant 0,3% and Grandiose/Manipulative predicted none of the variance in delinquency and was not significant. The findings regarding dimensions contradict the majority of research on the subject which has focused on CU-traits as main predictor of antisocial behavior, but in line with recent studies using a similar analytical approach showing Impulsivity/Irresponsible behavior as main predictor. The findings regarding gender are in line with previous research.