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The stability of psychopathy across adolescence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2009

Donald R. Lynam ,
Richard Charnigo ,
Terrie E. Moffitt ,
Adrian Raine ,
Rolf Loeber  and
Magda Stouthamer-Loeber
Donald R. Lynam*
Affiliation:
Purdue University
Richard Charnigo
Affiliation:
University of Kentucky
Terrie E. Moffitt
Affiliation:
Duke University and King's College London
Adrian Raine
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Rolf Loeber
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
Magda Stouthamer-Loeber
Affiliation:
University of Pittsburgh
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Donald R. Lynam, Purdue University, Department of Psychological Sciences, 703 Third Street, West Lafayette, IN 47907-2081; E-mail: dlynam@psych.purdue.edu.
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Abstract

The current diagnostic system suggests that personality disorder categories be applied to children and adolescents in rare circumstances because of expected changes in personality pathology across development. The present study examined the stability in personality pathology, specifically psychopathy, across childhood and adolescence. Using a short form of the CPS and mixed models incorporating fixed and random effects, we examined the reliability, individual stability, mean-level stability, and predictive utility of juvenile psychopathy as a function of age (i.e., from 7 to 17 years old) in over 1,500 boys from the three cohorts of the Pittsburgh Youth Study. If adolescent development contributes to instability in personality pathology, large age-related fluctuations in reliability, stability, and predictive utility should be observed, particularly in the latter part of adolescence when normative changes are hypothesized to influence levels of psychopathy. Such fluctuations were not observed. In general, juvenile psychopathy could be reliably assessed beginning in childhood, was fairly stable across short and long intervals, showed little mean-level fluctuation, and predicted delinquency across adolescence. These results suggest that concerns about large changes in personality pathology across childhood and adolescence may be overstated. Implications and future directions are discussed.

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 21 , Issue 4: Precursors and Diverse Pathways to Personality Disorder in Children and Adolescents: Part 2 , November 2009 , pp. 1133 - 1153
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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