title: Psychopathic Traits in Early Childhood: Further Validation of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory.
abstract: The aim was to further test the reliability and validity of a newly developed instrument designed to assess psychopathic personality traits in children, the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI). Data from the Preschool Twin Study in Sweden were used, a national general population study of 5-year-old twins ( n = 1,188, 50.3% girls). Both preschool teachers and parents were used as informants. Confirmatory factor analysis replicated the intended three-factorial structure of the 28 items of the CPTI. Overall, our findings demonstrated good internal consistency and convergent validity, with all the teacher-rated CPTI scores being associated with teacher and parent ratings of externalizing psychopathology, aggressive behavior, fearlessness, and prosocial peer involvement. In conclusion, the CPTI hold promise as a teacher-rated tool for assessing psychopathic traits in childhood, though more research is needed to see if these findings can be generalized to other countries, settings, and older children.
authors.affiliation: 1 Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands.|2 Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Olivier F
authors.initials: OF
authors.lastname: Colins
authors.affiliation: 3 University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Kostas
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Fanti
authors.affiliation: 4 Karolinska Institutet, Solna, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Larsson
authors.affiliation: 2 Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden.
authors.forename: Henrik
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Andershed
mesh_terms: D000374:Aggression / Q000523:psychology; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001289:Attention Deficit Disorder with Hyperactivity / Q000523:psychology; D019958:Attention Deficit and Disruptive Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005178:Faculty; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010290:Parents; D010552:Personality Assessment; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
keywords: callous–unemotional; grandiose–deceitful; preschoolers; psychometric properties; psychopathic traits