A recent study that adapted an adult scale of psychopathy to the childhood level indicates that psychopathy has a childhood manifestation which can be measured reliably (J. Abnormal Psychology 1997, Vol. 106, No. 3, 425-438). The study demonstrated that children with psychopathic personalities, like their adult counterparts, were serious and stable offenders, impulsive, and prone to externalizing disorders. The scale was also predictive of serious stable antisocial behavior in adolescence.
The Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), the state-of-the-art scale for adult psychopathy, was translated into a Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS). Certain constructs had no childhood counterparts and could not be included, for example, 'promiscuous sexual behavior" and "many short-term marital relationships." The operational validity of the CPS was dependent on identifying characteristics of adult psychopathic behavior in 430 at-risk boys ages 12 and 13. Each boy, his main caregiver, and a teacher were interviewed to identify those children at risk for delinquency and criminal behavior.
The study was part of a high-risk longitudinal survey of the causes and correlates of early forms of delinquency. At age 10, children scoring high on the CPS were more likely to engage in serious theft (e.g., stealing something worth more than $50) and to commit violent acts (e.g., gang fighting or strong-arming). The picture was much the same at ages 12 and 13, except that those children with high CPS scores committed more types of crimes and more serious ones.
To examine the relation between childhood psychopathy and stable antisocial behavior, three groups of delinquent boys were compared on 13 psychopathic items (e.g., glibness, conning, lack of remorse, pathological lying). Each measure was standardized to a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one. Stable seriously delinquent boys scored almost 1-1/2 standard deviations above stable non-delinquent boys and over 3/4 of a standard deviation above other delinquent boys.
Of the ten CPS impulsivity measures, six correlated significantly with the measure of child psychopathy including variables such as teacher-related impulsivity, motor restlessness, behavioral impulsivity, and delay of gratification.
Total scores on the CPS were positively correlated with residualized self and teacher reports of aggression and delinquency. For teachers, total scores on the CPS negatively correlated with residualized ratings of anxiety and withdrawn behaviors (depression, on the teacher scale). For the boys' self-ratings, total CPS scores were negatively correlated with residualized anxiety and social problems that included attention problems, aggression, delinquency, and externalizing problems.
Whether fair or not, look for the CPS to find increasing visibility in the evaluation of child offenders. Psychopathy is still not recognized in DSM-IV as a distinct diagnostic entity. But its distinction from conduct disorder gives prosecution and defense a powerful scientific argument to influence sentencing. Even as psychopathy gains identity, its future recognition is still hampered by competing theories of what psychopathy is.
Research on adult psychopathy is limited by the effects of years of drug and alcohol abuse, physical fighting, lost opportunities, and multiple incarcerations. The researcher says that public schools are excellent places to study the successful, non-institutionalized psychopathic person who does not engage in serious antisocial behavior. "If the factors that prevent . . . psychopathic personality from developing into full-blown antisocial behavior can be identified, through a comparison of successful and nonsuccessful psychopathic individuals, this information might be used to further intervention efforts."
