A Rorschach comparison of psychopathic and nonpsychopathic conduct disordered adolescents

Abstract

In contrast to the article, the dissertation concluded that an absence of significant differences between severely psychopathic and nonpsychopathic conduct disordered adolescents on most Rorschach variables associated with narcissism indicated a lack of narcissism in the severely psychopathic conduct disordered adolescents. In addition, Smith, Gacono, and Kaufman would like to extend their gratitude to Murray Bilmes, Ph.D., for his contribution to this research.

Psychopathic traits in adolescent offenders: an evaluation of criminal history, clinical, and psychosocial correlates

“…Specifically, psychopathic youths are more likely to be diagnosed with childhoodonset Conduct Disorder and present with a greater variety and seriousness of delinquent and antisocial behaviors (e.g. fighting causing serious injury, stealing, vandalism, and purposely killing animals; Gretton, unpublished doctoral dissertation;Murrie & Cornell, 2000;Myers, Burket, & Harris, 1995;Rogers, Johansen, Chang, & Salekin, 1997;Smith, Gacono, & Kaufman, 1997). Although there are a few exceptions (Brandt et al, 1997;Gretton, unpublished doctoral dissertation), most studies also point to the higher risk of substance abuse, earlier onset for drug use, and experimentation with a greater variety of drugs among psychopathic adolescents (Mailloux, Forth, & Kroner, 1997;Murrie & Cornell, 2000;Toupin, Mercier, Déry, Cô te, & Hodgins, 1996).…”

“…Although there are a few exceptions (Brandt et al, 1997;Gretton, unpublished doctoral dissertation), most studies also point to the higher risk of substance abuse, earlier onset for drug use, and experimentation with a greater variety of drugs among psychopathic adolescents (Mailloux, Forth, & Kroner, 1997;Murrie & Cornell, 2000;Toupin, Mercier, Déry, Cô te, & Hodgins, 1996). Moreover, adolescent psychopathy is associated with a higher number and annual rate of prior violent offences (Forth et al, 1990;Forth & Tobin, 1995;Gretton, unpublished doctoral dissertation;Smith et al, 1997), a higher number of institutional misbehaviors and aggression while incarcerated (see, e.g., Edens, Poythress, & Lilienfeld, 1999;Murdock Hicks, Rogers, & Cashel, 2000;Rogers et al, 1997), a higher escape and conditional release risk (Gretton, unpublished doctoral dissertation), and a greater tendency toward violent recidivism (Brandt et al, 1997;Gretton, McBride, Hare, O'Shaughnessy, & Kumka, 2001;Gretton, McBride, O'Shaughnessy, & Hare, 1997). Recent data also suggests that psychopathic adolescents anticipate positive rewards from the use of aggression (Pardini, Lochman, & Frick, 2003).…”

Current status of Rorschach assessment: Implications for the school psychologist

“…The RIM is psychometrically stable and valid when used in the manner for which it was designed (Piotrowski, 1996;Piotrowski & Keller, 1989;Piotrowski, Sherry, & Keller, 1985). Rorschach information contributes substantially to guiding interventions for children whom school psychologists serve (Janson & Stattin, 2003;Lunardi, 1999;Pierce & Penman, 1998;Smith et al, 1997;Socket, 1998;Stokes et al, 2003;Weber et al, 1992).…”

“…Rorschach information helps anticipate real life behaviors in children who have emotional or behavioral disorders, in that the content of the individual's decision-making repertoire is reflected in the assessment data (Gacono & Meloy, 1994;Lunardi, 1999;Smith, Gacono, & Kaufman, 1997;Weber, Meloy, & Gacono, 1992). Empirical evidence indicates that the RIM's contribution to the understanding of childhood difficulties is extensive, including understanding negative affectivity in children diagnosed as emotionally disturbed (Hughes, Miller, & Morine, 2005), differences in aggressive behaviors in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic conduct disordered children (Gacono & Meloy, 1994;Loving & Russel, 2000;Smith et al, 1997), the way childhood delinquency is related to adolescent and adulthood delinquency (Janson & Stattin, 2003), and the role of attachment and anxiety in conduct or dysthymic disordered adolescents (Weber et al, 1992).…”

“…Empirical evidence indicates that the RIM's contribution to the understanding of childhood difficulties is extensive, including understanding negative affectivity in children diagnosed as emotionally disturbed (Hughes, Miller, & Morine, 2005), differences in aggressive behaviors in psychopathic and nonpsychopathic conduct disordered children (Gacono & Meloy, 1994;Loving & Russel, 2000;Smith et al, 1997), the way childhood delinquency is related to adolescent and adulthood delinquency (Janson & Stattin, 2003), and the role of attachment and anxiety in conduct or dysthymic disordered adolescents (Weber et al, 1992). Rorschach information provides an idiographic understanding of children useful for developing individual education programs (Pierce & Penman, 1998;Socket, 1998) as well as information useful in the consideration of intervention outcomes (Stokes et al, 2003).…”