Abstract
Theory and empirical research suggest that psychopathy may be disaggregated into primary and secondary variants. In practice, individuals with high scores on psychopathy measures are treated as a homogenous group. In this study, interviewers recruited 355 incarcerated youth to assess potential differences in trauma history, posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms, and dissociative symptoms among high-anxious (secondary) and low-anxious (primary) variants of psychopathy. Results indicate that youth with secondary psychopathy report a greater history of traumatic experiences and past PTSD symptoms—but not dissociative symptoms—than primary variants. These results suggest that youth with high scores on measures of psychopathy are a heterogeneous group, necessitating nuanced assessment and treatment practices.