Interpersonal and Affective Features of Psychopathy in Children and Adolescents: Advancing a Developmental Perspective Introduction to Special Section

Abstract

The interpersonal (e.g., manipulative, deceitful) and affective (e.g., callous, unemotional) features associated with adult psychopathy have been identified in children and adolescents. Although early research suggests that these features have clinical utility in identifying a particularly severe and recalcitrant form of antisocial behavior with unique developmental origins, several issues regarding these features need to be addressed. This special section is designed to address developmental questions regarding the interpersonal/affective features of psychopathy that have been posed by researchers in the field. Articles included in this special section focus on the structure and stability of the interpersonal/affective features of psychopathy from childhood to adolescence as well as the relation between these features and measures of psychopathy in adulthood. Articles also address the relation between the affective components of psychopathy and ADHD symptoms, emotional problems, and parenting practices in young girls, as well as the interactive role of temperamental fearfulness/anxiety and parenting practices in predicting the development of the affective features of psychopathy. Finally, the influence of a parenting intervention on the affective features of psychopathy in boys diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant Disorder is examined.

Special thanks to Paul J. Frick for his invaluable guidance and feedback on this special section.