Age patterns in psychopathic traits from age 9 to age 20: Testing unique associations with conduct disorder symptoms
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Age patterns in psychopathic traits from age 9 to age 20: Testing unique associations with conduct disorder symptoms Kostas A. Fanti 1
&
Alexandros Lordos 1
Accepted: 23 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The downward extension of psychopathic traits to childhood and adolescence proved to be important in both research and clinical practice. The current study investigates how distinct psychopathic traits (i.e., callous-unemotional traits, narcissism, impulsivity) contribute to the prediction of conduct disorder (CD) symptoms, and whether these associations vary as a function of age. Further, we aimed to examine the variability in mean levels of psychopathic traits from age 9 to age 20 in a large community sample (N = 9136) using cross-sectional analysis. The study’s findings provided evidence for age variability in psychopathic traits, since narcissism was found to be more prevalent from age 13–15, impulsivity from age 13 to 20, and CU traits from age 15–18. These findings demonstrate that psychopathic traits are less prevalent during childhood than adolescence. Further, the pattern of association between CD symptoms and psychopathic traits also displayed variability by age. Specifically, even though the overall regression of psychopathic traits on CD symptoms suggested that the three psychopathic dimensions had comparable impact on CD, the separate regressions by age group suggested that impulsivity was the strongest predictor of CD in childhood and early adolescence (ages 9–14), while narcissism was the strongest predictor of CD in mid-adolescence (ages 15–17). In contrast, callous-unemotional traits had a more stable effect on CD symptoms across time. Current evidence can inform existing attempts for the developmental extension of the construct of psychopathy to childhood and adolescence. Keywords Impulsivity . Narcissism . Callous unemotional traits . Conduct disorder . Psychopathy . Cross-sectional
Introduction In the past two decades, studies extending the concept of psychopathy to childhood and adolescence have increased exponentially. Child and adolescence psychopathic traits contribute to the onset and development of distinct forms of antisocial behaviors associated with conduct disorder (CD; i.e., aggression, theft, bullying, deceptiveness, destruction of property, rule violations; e.g., APA 2013; Colins et al. 2017; Corrado et al. 2015; Fanti 2013; Fanti and Kimonis 2012; Geerlings et al. 2020). CD is a highly prevalent developmental disorder, affecting up to 10% of children and adolescents worldwide, with the first significant symptoms emerging before the age of 10 (APA 2013; Erskine et al. 2016; Fanti 2018). In addition to the great personal cost inflicted to victims and the disturbance caused to the school environment, the * Kostas A. Fanti [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY 1678 Nicosia, Cyprus
behaviors associated with CD impair the child’s ability to function, resulting in school failure
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