Are psychopathic traits predictive of conduct problems and aggression when other risk factors are considered? A longitudinal test among Croatian children

Purpose: To examine prognostic and incremental values of grandiose-deceitful interpersonal style, callous -unemotional traits and impulsivity-need for stimulation, and their ability to predict conduct problems and different types of aggressive behavior above and beyond well-established risk factors, including early childhood hyperactivity, aggression, and parenting styles in a community sample of very young children.Methods: Using data from the ECLAT study, a 5-year prospective/longitudinal study of 175 elementary school children in Croatia (80 boys/95 girls; MFirst_assessment = 5.28 years and MLast_assessment = 10.33 years), hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to evaluate the utility of children's psychopathy features.Results: Analyses revealed that, after controlling for individual and parenting risk factors at age 5, only impulsivity-need for stimulation was an independent, albeit weak, predictor of conduct problems at age 10, but not aggression. In addition, the multidimensional child psychopathy construct (i.e., high levels on all three psychopathic traits) at age 5 in combination with concurrent conduct problems was the strongest predictor of future negative outcomes above and beyond other risk factors, but only of conduct problems. Conclusions: After both individual and parenting factors are taken into account, psychopathic traits individually have limited usefulness when predicting future antisocial behavior but may be important in prediction when all three psychopathic traits are elevated and co-occur with conduct problems in a community sample of young children.

Automated summary

The study examined the prognostic and incremental values of grandiose-deceitful interpersonal style, callous-unemotional traits and impulsivity-need for stimulation in predicting conduct problems and different types of aggressive behavior in young children. It found that these traits have limited usefulness individually when predicting future antisocial behavior, but may be important predictors when elevated and co-occur with conduct problems.