[Epidemiological data on personality dimensions in the psychopathy of adolescent boys and girls - results of the Cologne GAP study].
OBJECTIVE
This paper evaluates epidemiological data on psychopathy dimensions among adolescents.


METHODS
The Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PCL:YV) was administered to a forensic sample of 169 boys and 172 girls, to a clinical sample of 30 boys and 63 girls, and to a community sample of 119 male and 116 female pupils. Analysis was based on three different conceptualizations of psychopathy. In total 669 youths between 14 to 19 years were included in the study.


RESULTS
Depending on the cutoff used, we found a psychopathy prevalence between 27 % and 63 % among the incarcerated boys, and from 7 % and 24 % among the incarcerated girls. The clinical and the community samples showed higher scores on the behavior and lower scores on the core personality dimensions. All samples indicated significantly more psychopathy dimensions in boys than in girls.


CONCLUSIONS
Varying rates of prevalence are found when using different models for analyzing the PCL:YV. The extent of age-typical adolescent and antisocial behavioral dimensions represented by the Lifestyle and the Antisocial Factor inflates the total PCL:YV score without presenting increased scores in the psychopathy core dimensions. Prospectively, the two core personality dimensions of psychopathy should be studied more closely.
Klinik für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und -psychotherapie an der Universität zu Köln. kathrin.sevecke@uk-koeln.de
Kathrin
K
Sevecke
Gerd
G
Lehmkuhl
Maya K
MK
Krischer
D000293:Adolescent; D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D057189:Checklist; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D007406:Interview, Psychological; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D008297:Male; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology*; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D014754:Violence / Q000523:psychology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data