Abstract
The present study aimed to further test the teacher- and parent-versions of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) in Spain, with a special focus on gender differences. Data were collected in a sample of 2467 preschool children (48.1% girls) aged three to six (mean age = 4.25; SD = 0.91). Results supported the proposed three-factor structure of the CPTI (Grandiose-deceitful, GD; Callous-unemotional, CU; and Impulsive-need of stimulation, INS), being invariant across gender, and with good-to-excellent internal consistency values. CPTI scores showed the expected associations with fearlessness, conduct problems, reactive and proactive aggression, hyperactivity and prosocial behavior, thereby supporting the external validity of the CPTI scores. This pattern of associations also held when cross-informant correlations were explored, although correlation values were lower in magnitude. Some different patterns of correlations were also found across gender groups. Overall, the CPTI reveals as a promising, psychometrically sound measure for assessing psychopathic traits in very young children using both parents’ and teachers’ reports.
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Notes
Participants were kids who had born in 2011–2013. The 6-years-old (8.2% of the sample) were children attending preschool who had born before July of 2011.
For the CPTI parents-reported, model fit indices for configural invariance were RMSEA = .07, CFI = .91, and TLI = .90; for metric invariance: RMSEA = .07, CFI = .91, and TLI = .90; and for scalar invariance: RMSEA = .06, CFI = .91, and TLI = .92. For the CPTI teachers-reported, the values for configural invariance were RMSEA = .08, CFI = .96, and TLI = .95; for metric invariance = RMSEA = .07, CFI = .96, and TLI = .95; and for scalar invariance: RMSEA = .07, CFI = .96, and TLI = .96.
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Acknowledgements
This study was funded by FEDER/Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades – Agencia Estatal de Investigación/Grant PSI2015-65766-R, and the Programa de Axudas á Etapa Posdoutoral da Xunta de Galicia (Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria).
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Laura López-Romero, Lorena Maneiro, Olivier F. Colins, Henrik Andershed, and Estrella Romero declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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The Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, and the Bioethics Committee at the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. All procedures performed in studies including human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
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López-Romero, L., Maneiro, L., Colins, O.F. et al. Psychopathic Traits in Early Childhood: Further Multi-informant Validation of the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI). J Psychopathol Behav Assess 41, 366–374 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-019-09735-0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-019-09735-0