Abstract
The present study examines the relation between psychopathy and the Big Five dimensions of personality in two samples of adolescents. Specifically, the study tests the hypothesis that the aspect of psychopathy representing selfishness, callousness, and interpersonal manipulation (Factor 1) is most strongly associated with low Agreeableness, whereas the aspect of psychopathy representing impulsivity, instability, and social deviance (Factor 2) is associated with low Agreeableness, low Conscientiousness, and high Neuroticism. Data from 13- and 16-year-old boys and their mothers from two samples of the Pittsburgh Youth Study are used to test these hypotheses. Results were consistent across age and rating source in supporting the initial hypotheses, providing support for the construct of juvenile psychopathy and the interpretation of psychopathy as a constellation of traits drawn from a general model of personality functioning.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the child behavior checklist and 1991 profile. Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry
Barry, C. T., Frick, P. J., DeShazo, T. M., McCoy, M. G., Ellis, M., & Loney, B. R. (2000). The importance of callous-unemotional traits for extending the concept of psychopathy to children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 109, 335–340.
Blair, R. J. R., Colledge, E., Murray, L., & Mitchell, D. G. V. (2001). A selective impairment in the processing of sad and fearful expressions in children with psychopathic tendencies. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 29, 491–498.
Block, J. (1993). Studying personality the long way. In D. Funder, R. Parke, C. Tomlinson-Keasy & K. Widaman (Eds.), Studying lives through time: Personality and development (pp. 9–41). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Block, J. H., & Block, J. (1980). The California Child Q-Set. Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.
Caspi, A. (1998). Personality development across the life course. In W. Damon (Series Editor) & N. Eisenberg (Volume Editor), Handbook of child psychology, Volume 3: Social, emotional, and personality development (pp. 311–388). New York: Wiley.
Caspi, A., Block, J., Block, J. H., Klopp, B., Lynam, D., Moffitt, T. E., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1992). A “common language” version of the California Child Q-Set (CCQ) for personality assessment. Psychological Assessment, 4, 512–523.
Cleckley, H. (1941/1988). The mask of sanity. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.
Costa, P. T., & McCrae, R. R. (1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO-PI-R) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.
Depue, R. A. (1996). A neurobiological framework for the structure of personality and emotion: Implications for personality disorders. In Clarkin, J. F., & Lenzenweger, M. F. (Eds.), Major theories of personality disorder (pp. 347–390). New York: Guilford.
De Fruyt, F., Mervielde, I., Hoekstra, H., & Rolland, J. (2001). Assessing adolescents = personalty with the NEO-PI-R. Assessment, 7, 329–346.
Digman, J. M. (1990). Personality structure: Emergence of the five-factor model. Annual Review of Psychology, 41, 417–440.
Edens, J. F., Skeem, J., Cruise, K. R., & Cauffman, E. (2001). Assessment of “juvenile psychopathy” and its association with violence: A critical review. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 19, 53–80.
Falkenbach, D. M., Poythress, N. G., & Heide, K. M. (In press). Psychopathic features in a juvenile diversion population: Reliability and predictive validity of two self-report measures. Behavioral Sciences and the Law.
Forth, A. E., Hare, R. D., & Hart, S. D. (1990). Assessment of psychopathy in male young offenders. Psychological Assessment, 2, 342–344.
Frick, P. J., Barry, C. T., & Bodin, S. D. (2000). Applying the concept of psychopathy to children: Implications for the assessment of antisocial youth. In C.B. Gacono (Ed.), The clinical and forensic assessment of psychopathy: A practitioner’s guide (pp. 3–24). Mahwah, NJ: LEA.
Frick, P. J., Lilienfeld, S. O., Ellis, M., Loney, B., & Silverthorn, P. (1999). The association between anxiety and psychopathy dimensions in children. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 27, 383–392.
Frick, P. J., O’Brien, B. S., Wootton, J. M., & McBurnett, K. (1994). Psychopathy and conduct problems in children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 103, 700–707.
Fung, M. T., Raine, A., Lynam, D., Steinhauer, S. R., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2002). Reduced anticipatory and reactive skin conductance: Evidence for an adolescent analogue of psychopathy [Abstract]. Psychophysiology, 39, S37–S37.
Goldberg, L. R. (2001). Analyses of Digman’s child personality data: Derivation of Big Five Factor scores from each of six samples. Journal of Personality, 69, 709–743.
Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare psychopathy checklist- revised. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.
Harpur, T. J., Hakstian, A. R., & Hare, R. D. (1988). Factor structure of the psychopathy checklist. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 741–747.
Harpur, T. J., Hare, R., & Hakstian, A. R. (1989). Two-factor conceptualization of psychopathy: Construct validity and assessment implications. Psychological Assessment, 1, 6–17.
Harpur, T. J., Hart, S. D., & Hare, R. D. (2002). Personality of the psychopath. In P. T. Costa & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality (pp. 299–324). American Psychological Association: Washington DC.
Hinshaw, S. P., Lahey, B. B., & Hart, E. L. (1993). Issues of taxonomy and comorbidity in the development of conduct disorder. Development and Psychopathology, 5, 31–49.
Isler, V. (2003). Another piece for the puzzle: Psychophysiological indicators of the absenceof empathic responding in factor 1 psychopathy. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Waikato.
John, O. P., Caspi, A., Robins, R. W., Moffitt, T. E., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (1994). The “Little Five”: Exploring the nomological network of the five-factor model of personality in adolescent boys. Child Development, 65, 160–178.
John, O. P., & Srivastava, S. (1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality. Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 102–138). NY: Guilford.
Lilienfeld, S. O. (1994). Conceptual problems in the assessment of psychopathy. Clinical Psychology Review, 14, 17–38.
Loeber, R., Farrington, D. P., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Van Kammen, W. B. (1998). Antisocial behavior and mental health problems: Explanatory factors in childhood and adolescence. Mawhaw, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Lynam, D. R. (1996). The early identification of chronic offenders: Who is the fledgling psychopath? Psychological Bulletin, 120, 209–234.
Lynam, D. R. (1997). Childhood psychopathy: Capturing the fledgling psychopath in a nomological net. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 425–438.
Lynam, D. R. (1998). Early identification of the fledgling psychopath: Locating the psychopathic child in the current nomenclature. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107, 566–575.
Lynam, D. R. (2002). Psychopathy from the perspective of the five-factor model of personality. In P. T. Costa & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders and the five-factor model of personality (pp. 325–348). American Psychological Association: Washington DC.
Lynam, D. R., Whiteside, S., & Jones, S. (1999). Self-reported psychopathy: A validation study. Journal of Personality Assessment, 73, 110–132.
Lynam, D., & Widiger, T. (2001). Using the five-factor model to represent the DSM-IV personality disorders: An expert consensus approach. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 110, 401–412.
MacKinnon, D. P., Krull, J. L., & Lockwood, C. M. (2000). Equivalence of the mediation, confounding, and suppression effect. Prevention Science, 1, 173–181.
McCrae, R. R., Costa, P. T., Ostendorf, F., Angleitner, A., Hrebickova, M., Avia, M. D., Sanz, J., Sanchez-Bernardos, M. L., Kusdil, M. E., Woodfield, R., Saunders, P. R., & Smith, P. B. (2000). Nature over nurture: Temperament, personality, and life span development. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 78, 173–186.
Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., Widiger, T. A., & Leukefeld, C. (2001). Personality disorders as extreme variants of common personality dimensions. Can the five-factor model of personality adequately represent psychopathy? Journal of Personality, 69, 253–276.
Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2003). Psychopathy and the five-factor model of personality: A replication and extension. Journal of Personality Assessment, 81, 168–178.
Moffitt, T. E. (1993). Adolescence-limited and life-course persistent antisocial behavior: A developmental taxonomy. Psychological Review, 100, 674–701.
Plomin, R., & Caspi, A. (1999). Behavioral genetics and personality. In L. A. Pervin & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality. Theory and research (2nd ed., pp. 251–276). NY: Guilford.
Raine, A., Moffitt, T. E., Caspi, A., Loeber, R., Stouthamer-Loeber, M., & Lynam, D. (2004). Neurocognitive impairments in boys on the life-course persistent antisocial path. Manuscript submitted for publication.
Ridenour, T. A., Marchant, G. J., & Dean, R. S. (2001). Is the revised psychopathy checklist clinically useful for adolescents? Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 19, 227–238.
Roberts, B., & DelVecchio, W. (2000). The rank-order consistency of personality traits from Childhood to old age: A quantitative review of longitudinal studies. Psychological Bulletin, 26, 3–25.
Robins, L. (1978). Sturdy childhood predictors of adult antisocial behavior: Replications from longitudinal studies. Psychological Medicine, 8, 611–622.
Robins, R. W., John, O. P., & Caspi, A. (1994). Major dimensions of personality in early adolescence: The Big Five and beyond. In C. F. Halverson, G. A. Kohnstamm, & R. P. Martin (Eds.) The developing structure of temperament and personality from infancy to adulthood (pp 267–291). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Seagrave, D., & Grisso, T. (2002). Adolescent development and the measurement of juvenile psychopathy. Law and Human Behavior, 26, 219–240.
Widiger, T. A., & Lynam, D. R. (1998). Psychopathy and the five-factor model of personality. In T. Millon, E. Simonsen, M. Birket-Smith, & R. D. Davis (Eds.), Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal, and violent behaviors (pp. 171–187). New York: Guilford.
Wolfgang, M., Figlio, R. M., Tracey, P. E., & Singer, F. I. (1985). The National Survey of Crime Severity. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lynam, D.R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T.E. et al. Adolescent Psychopathy and the Big Five: Results from Two Samples. J Abnorm Child Psychol 33, 431–443 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-005-5724-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-005-5724-0