The latent structure of psychopathy in youth: a taxometric investigation.
Using taxometric procedures, the latent structure of psychopathy was investigated in two studies of children and adolescents. Prior studies have identified a taxon (i.e., a natural category) associated with antisocial behavior in adults as well as children and adolescents. However, features of this taxon suggest that it is not psychopathy but rather a broader class consistent with the construct of life course persistent antisocial behavior. Because the only prior study of youth used a non-clinical sample, the base rate of psychopathy may have been too low to reveal a psychopathy taxon, especially against the background of a broader and more prevalent antisocial behavior taxon. Therefore, this investigation sought to increase the likelihood of finding a psychopathy taxon (should one exist) by increasing its expected base rate through inclusion of clinical cases in the samples studied. Results produced evidence for both a broad antisocial behavior problem taxon consistent with past research and a much lower base rate taxon consistent with prevalence expectations for psychopathy. These findings support the existence of latent taxa for both psychopathy and a broader class of antisocial behavior problems. Further taxometric research appears to be warranted, which should use a broader array of indicators, with greater specificity to psychopathy.
Vasey
Michael W
MW
Department of Psychology, Ohio State University, Columbus,Ohio 43210-1222, USA. vasey.1@osu.edu
Kotov
Roman
R
Frick
Paul J
PJ
Loney
Bryan R
BR
D000293:Adolescent; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D012647:Self-Assessment; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires