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Unique and Interactive Associations of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Impulsivity and Grandiosity with Child and Adolescent Conduct Disorder Symptoms

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Abstract

The construct of psychopathy remains underrepresented in the clinical diagnosis of Conduct Disorder (CD) as the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5th edition (DSM-5) only addresses one out of the three dimensions of child psychopathy, Callous Unemotional (CU) traits. This study tests if and to what extent there are unique and interactive associations of CU traits, impulsivity, and grandiosity with child and adolescent CD symptoms. Data were collected from two separate community samples of children (N = 1599; Mage = 9.46, SD = 1.65; 52% female) and adolescents (N = 2719; Mage = 16.99, SD = 0.99; 49% female), who were followed longitudinally after a year. Hierarchical linear regression analyses were conducted, testing cross-sectional and longitudinal associations with CD symptoms, taking into account all three psychopathy dimensions. The cross-sectional findings indicate that only youth presenting a combination of all three psychopathy dimensions scored above the clinical cut-off score for CD. On the other hand, longitudinal findings provided evidence that the combination of high initial levels of CD and CU traits as well as the combination between CD, grandiosity, and impulsivity can lead to clinical levels of future CD symptoms. Findings also indicated that CU traits and impulsivity more strongly predicted adolescent than child CD symptoms, and that CU traits were more strongly associated with boys’ than girls’ CD symptoms. Findings support the inclusion of CU traits as a specifier for the diagnosis of CD, and provide evidence that other psychopathy dimensions can also help clinicians to better understand and treat youth with CD, and should be considered for future revisions of the DSM.

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Funding

No funding was received for this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, CY 1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Kostas A. Fanti

  2. University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland

    Melina Nicole Kyranides

  3. Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA

    Alexandros Lordos

  4. Leiden University Medical Center and Örebro University, Leiden, Netherlands

    Olivier F. Colins

  5. Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden

    Henrik Andershed

Authors
  1. Kostas A. Fanti
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  2. Melina Nicole Kyranides
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  3. Alexandros Lordos
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  4. Olivier F. Colins
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  5. Henrik Andershed
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Correspondence to Kostas A. Fanti.

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Conflict of Interest

Kostas A. Fanti, Melina N. Kyranides, Alexandros Lordos, Olivier F. Colins, and Henrik Andershed declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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Informed consent was obtained from parents and assent was obtained from youth included in the study.

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Kostas A. Fanti and Melina N. Kyranides are shared first authors

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Fanti, K.A., Kyranides, M.N., Lordos, A. et al. Unique and Interactive Associations of Callous-Unemotional Traits, Impulsivity and Grandiosity with Child and Adolescent Conduct Disorder Symptoms. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 40, 40–49 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-018-9655-9

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