The relationship between psychopathic traits measured by the Youth Psychopathic trait Inventory and psychopathology in a UK sample of conduct disordered boys

• Published in: Journal of adolescence (London, England.) England.), 2007-08, Vol.30 (4), p.601-611
• Main Authors: Dolan, Mairead C, Rennie, Charlotte E
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescents; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Aggressiveness; Behavior Disorders; Behavior Problems; Biological and medical sciences; Boys; Child Behavior Checklist; Conduct disorder; Conduct Disorder - psychology; Correlation analysis; Disorderly conduct; England; Female; Foreign Countries; Humans; Juvenile Delinquency - psychology; Male; Males; Measures (Individuals); Medical sciences; Men; Pediatrics; Personality; Personality Inventory; Personality Traits; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathic traits; Psychopathology; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Social behavior disorders. Criminal behavior. Delinquency; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; United Kingdom
• ISSN: 0140-1971; 1095-9254
• DOI: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2006.07.002

Abstract The Youth Psychopathy traits Inventory (YPI) is a newly developed self-report measure of psychopathy. There are no studies looking at the validity of this measure in UK samples. We assessed 115 male adolescents (mean age 16.22 years) with DSM-IV conduct disorder on a range of measures including the YPI, Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the Impulsivity-Venturesomeness-Empathy Questionnaire (IVE). The YPI had showed the expected positive correlations with aggression, delinquency and impulsivity. The YPI was able to identify a “psychopathic-like” subgroup with higher impulsive/aggressive and delinquent scores and lower empathy. The YPI may be of value as a screening tool for cases that require further assessment and evaluation using interview based measures of psychopathic traits.