To Örebro University

Several assessment tools have been developed to assess psychopathic traits in childhood and adolescence. However, knowledge on the continuity and change in psychopathic traits remains limited, especially because of uncertainties regarding the capacity of these tools to assess these traits using a common metric across development. To fill this void, this study tested the measurement invariance of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI), a teacher-rated scale designed to assess psychopathic traits from ages 3 to 12 years. Data were drawn from a Swedish population-based sample of 2,121 children followed longitudinally across 8 years from early to late childhood. Results from confirmatory factor analyses and multigroup invariance analyses showed an excellent fit of the theoretically proposed three-factor model of the CPTI and supported the scalar invariance hypothesis of this model across sexes at all assessment time points. Longitudinal invariance analyses further supported the hypothesis of scalar invariance of the three-factor model across the study design, hence suggesting that dimension scores can be reliably compared across this period. These results substantially add to previous psychometric evaluations of the CPTI by suggesting that assessments of psychopathic traits using the CPTI confer a metric that is comparable both across sexes and from early childhood to late childhood. Implications for future longitudinal studies aimed at understanding the developmental origins of these traits are discussed. 

The current study examines the relative importance of fear of crime and its three aspects—affective, behavioral, and cognitive—in relation to frailty (daily activities, health problems, psychosocial functioning), news consumption, trust in neighborhood, and perceptions of rising crime among older adults in a mid-sized Swedish municipality. Using logistic regression, we analyzed data from a subsample of 336 participants from a Swedish cross-sectional study of adults aged 65 and older (mean age = 76.62; age range = 64 to 106 years). Contrary to the common portrayal of older adults as highly fearful of crime, our findings reveal that their primary worries are more closely linked to health problems, social isola-tion, and other personal vulnerabilities than to fear of crime. Trust in the neighborhood is associated with lower levels of the affective and behavioral aspects of fear of crime. Conversely, perceptions of rising crime are positively related to the affective and behavioral aspects of fear. Health problems and problems in psychosocial functioning are positively linked to the affective aspect. Further, problems in psychosocial functioning are positively related to the behavioral aspect. Overall, while crime is a worry, it is overshadowed by more immediate health and social issues.

Children and adolescents display varying trajectories of conduct problems (CP), but it is unclear if these CP trajectories can be distinguished by childhood antecedents and adolescent outcomes. Therefore, we tested if child- and environmental-level risk factors predict CP trajectory membership and if CP trajectories are associated with developmental outcomes in adolescence. Six waves of data (teacher-, parent- and child self-reports) were used from 2,045 children. General growth mixture modeling identified four CP trajectories (waves 2-5): childhood-persistent, childhood-limited, adolescent-onset, and low CP. Relative to the adolescent-onset CP trajectory, wave 1 child- and environmental-level risk factors increased the likelihood of being in the childhood-persistent CP trajectory, though all but two (callous-unemotional traits and non-intact family) antecedents lost significance after controlling for wave 1 conduct problems. Few significant differences emerged in risk factors when comparing childhood-persistent and childhood-limited CP trajectories. Individuals identified in the adolescent-onset and childhood-persistent CP trajectories faced a higher risk for later maladjustment than those in the childhood-limited CP trajectory, whereas the adolescent-onset and childhood-persistent CP trajectories only differed in three out of 13 outcomes. Overall, findings indicate that individuals with CP are at risk for later maladjustment, but predicting the childhood-persistent trajectory of CP in young children is difficult.

Denna kvalitativa studie undersöker hur Gruppvåldsintervention (eng. Group Violence Intervention, GVI), en strategi som syftar till att minska grovt våld kopplat till kriminella grupper, upplevs av individer som identifierats som gruppmedlemmar. Studien bygger på intervjuer med både mottagare av strategin och yrkesverksamma, och belyser erfarenheter av kartläggning, kommunikation, sanktioner och erbjudanden om stöd. Resultaten visar på varierade uppfattningar om strategins olika delar, där legitimitet och tillit framträder som centrala teman. Studien diskuterar hur processuell rättvisa, tydlig och respektfull kommunikation samt individuellt anpassat stöd påverkar hur GVI tas emot. Vidare lyfter studien utmaningar med att i arbetet med strategin förmedla grunderna för kartläggning och åtgärder, betonar vikten av timing, relevans och kontinuitet i stödinsatser, samt betydelsen av att balansera incitament för att avstå våld och avskräckande åtgärder mot våld. Sammantaget bidrar studien med nyanserade insikter om hur GVI fungerar i praktiken och erbjuder reflektioner kring hur strategin kan vidareutvecklas och förankras i både svensk och internationell kontext.

This qualitative study explores how Group Violence Intervention (GVI), a strategy aimed at reducing serious violence linked to criminal groups, is perceived and experienced by individuals identified as members of a such groups. Based on interviews with both recipients of the strategy and practitioners, the study examines experiences of identification, communication, enforcement, and offers of social support. Findings reveal varied perceptions of the strategy’s components, with legitimacy and trust emerging as central themes. The study discusses how procedural justice, clear and respectful communication, and individually tailored support influence how GVI is received and interpreted. Furthermore, it highlights challenges in communicating the rationale behind identification and enforcement actions, emphasizes the importance of timing, relevance, and continuity in support efforts, and underlines the need to balance incentives to abstain from violence with deterrent measures against violent behavior. Overall, the study contributes nuanced insights into how GVI functions in practice and offers reflections on how the strategy can be further developed and embedded in both Swedish and international contexts.

Research Findings: This study aimed to investigate the developmental path of social skills in early childhood, the associated predictors, and its impact on later school performance. This prospective longitudinal study included 2,121 children, ages 3-5 at baseline, from the general population in a mid-sized Swedish municipality. Results show both stability and change in social skills. Stable low social skills increased the risk for poor school performance, while stable high social skills increased the chance for good school performance in primary school. With some notable gender differences, both individual and family factors were significant predictors of stable low and stable high paths of social skills during early childhood.

Practice or Policy: Whether the goal is to improve children’s social skills or their performance in school, this study provides important clues for prevention. We identified several potential targets for interventions to promote early social skills development, which may in turn promote positive school performance. It is also notable that there seem to be gender differences in which factors are important, indicating the need for gender-differentiated interventions. 

Aggression has been consistently shown to have a large genetic component based on findings from behavioral genetic studies. However, candidate gene and GWA studies on aggression have not identified a significant genetic marker. This does not mean that there are no genes relevant for aggression, but possibly indicates a complex interplay between various genetic components and environmental factors/triggers in aggression. Additionally, distinct forms of aggressive behavior (e.g., reactive, proactive, direct /physical, indirect/relational) may differ in their underlying neurobiological mechanisms. The extent to which environment affects epigenetic processes may depend on genotype, as well as other factors such as age, sex, and developmental history. The nonlinear occurrence of aggression over the lifetime (. Petersen, Bates, Dodge, Lansford, & Pettit, 2015) hints the involvement of developmental processes in the manifestation of aggression. Also, pathological aggression is highly comorbid with numerous psychiatric disorders and the concept of aggression is very heterogeneous, which further increases the complexity in the search for genetic and epigenetic markers. Notably, while most clinical studies focus on antisocial personality disorder, (epi)genetic research in psychiatric disorders that have aggression as a core symptom (such as IED) is scarce. Multidisciplinary collaborative research of genetic and epigenetic factors at various ages throughout the lifespan in well-characterized clinical and nonclinical study samples is needed to further shed light on the specific genetic and epigenetic contributions to (different types of) aggression including IED.

This study analyzed data from a prospective longitudinal study of Swedish preschoolers to examine whether psychopathic traits and concurrent conduct problems predict future conduct problems (CP) across 1- and 2-year follow-ups into early childhood. We tested the predictive ability of psychopathic traits while controlling for concurrent CP, and also by combining psychopathic traits with concurrent CP. A community sample of 1,867 preschoolers (47% girls) ages 3 to 5 years at baseline was recruited from a Swedish medium-sized municipality. Results from multivariate regression analyses showed that psychopathic traits alone (without co-occurring CP) did not consistently predict continuing childhood CP, but did so, among both boys and girls, in combination with concurrent conduct problems. It is important to note that, the combination of concurrent CP and the entire psychopathic personality, that is, a 3-dimensional psychopathic construct, was a stronger predictor of continuing childhood CP than the combination of concurrent CP and Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits among boys but not among girls.

Children with early-onset conduct problems (CP) are at great risk for future behavior problems, and this risk seems to increase when CP co-occur with psychopathic traits. Even though studies are indicating that the entire psychopathic personality construct may be more useful in designating a meaningful subgroup of children with CP, research on psychopathic traits and CP in childhood have mainly focused on the role of callous unemotional (CU) traits. Prospective longitudinal data of 1867 3- to 5-year-olds (47% girls) followed annually for two years was used to compare groups of children with different combinations of CP and psychopathic traits on fearlessness and Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms. Children with CP and psychopathic personality had higher baseline and stable levels of ADHD symptoms than children with CP only or children with CP and concurrent CU traits, while baseline levels of fearlessness did not differ. They were also more likely to display stable levels of the risky combination of CP and ADHD symptoms. Results were similar for boys and girls. Findings indicate that there are reasons to consider other traits and behaviors as specifiers for subgroups of children with CP over and above CU traits, in order to optimize both diagnostic practice and treatment outcomes.

The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) is a new teacher rated instrument to assess psychopathic personality traits in children. This is the first study to test the psychometric properties of the Dutch CPTI. Teachers completed the CPTI for 287 3- to 7-year old-children. Results from confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed 3-factor structure of the CPTI. The CPTI total score and three factor scores were internally consistent and showed the expected correlations with external criterion measures that have been linked to psychopathic personality, including conduct problems, proactive and reactive aggression, and temperament. This study also provides novel evidence that CPTI factor scores were positively related to an alternative measure of callous-unemotional traits, thereby supporting the criterion validity of the CPTI scores. In conclusion, this study replicates and extends prior tests of the CPTI in Sweden and suggests that the Dutch version of the CPTI holds promise as a teacher rated tool for assessing psychopathic traits in childhood.