Child and Adolescent Psychopathy: Stability and Change

Abstract

This article introduces the concept of child and adolescent psychopathy and discusses the reasons why the concept might be developmentally appropriate. Past research has suggested that child psychopathy might be inapplicable to youth because the symptoms cannot be reliably distinguished from features of normative adolescent development. Also, concerns have been raised regarding the possibility that the syndrome does not closely resemble the adult construct of psychopathy. Studies addressing the reliability and construct validity of psychopathy have shown that the concept does appear to be reliably distinguished from normal adolescent development and that the concept has a reasonable degree of construct validity. This article discusses research on the reliability and validity of child and adolescent psychopathy. In addition, it discusses the possibility of change in psychopathic symptoms over time and points to potential protective factors and directions for future research.

Key words:

• adolescents
• change
• children
• protective
• psychopathy
• stability

Notes

Part of this paper was presented at the 3rd International Congress of Psychology and Law, Adelaide, Australia, 8 July 2007.