Short-Term Stability of Psychopathic Traits in Adolescent Offenders

Abstract

There is considerable debate about the assessment of psychopathic traits in adolescence due in part to questions regarding the stability of traits. We investigated the 6-month stability of psychopathic traits in a sample of 83 male adolescent offenders using an augmented protocol for the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version and the self-report Antisocial Process Screening Device. Findings suggested moderate to high stability of psychopathic traits, as indexed by total scores, and low to moderate stability of psychopathic traits at the factor level. The interpersonal and behavioral traits demonstrated greater stability relative to the affective traits, and stability varied by developmental stage, with lower stability in early adolescence. Implications for understanding the developmental expression of psychopathic traits in adolescence, as well as for clinical-forensic practice, are discussed.

We thank Stephanie Penney for her assistance with data collection, Caroline Greaves and Catherine Wilson for their assistance with coding, and Marsha Schroeder and Brian O'Connor for providing statistical consultation. This article is based on a dissertation submitted by the first author in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.

Notes

¹There were no significant differences between adolescents who had shorter (i.e., fewer than 10 months) and longer (i.e., 10 months or more) follow-up lengths in terms of mean age or PCL:YV scores at Time 1 and Time 2.

Note. PCL:YV = Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (Forth et al., 2003); MIC = mean interitem correlation.

Note. PCL:YV = Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (Forth et al., 2003); APSD = self-report Antisocial Process Screening Device (Caputo et al., 1999); MIC = mean interitem correlation; d = Cohen's d effect size for the effect of time.

²Analyses were rerun omitting 5 participants who were older than age 18 and those who had a longer (i.e., 10 months or more) follow-up length. There were no substantial differences in G coefficients. Analyses were also run separately for those with recent incarceration lengths of 3 months or fewer and those longer than 3 months. There were no substantial differences in G coefficients, with the exception of Factor 3, which demonstrated greater stability in adolescents who were recently incarcerated for more than 3 months.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Zina Lee

Zina Lee is now at the Department of Criminology, Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Funding for this study was provided by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Emerging Team Grant awarded to Marlene M. Moretti (Grant 54020), and an AP-LS/APA Division 41 Grants-in-Aid and a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship awarded to the first author.