The Relationship Between the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory and Psychopathology in a U.S. Community Sample of Male Youth

Abstract

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) is a self-report measure of juvenile psychopathic traits. Validity data for this measure are limited, especially for nonreferred samples. This report investigated the concurrent validity of the YPI by assessing 171 nonreferred male youth (M age = 12.96 years) with a battery of self-, parent-, and peer-report measures including the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL), the Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), and a peer-sociometric measure of aggression. Results confirmed the expected correlations between the YPI and measures of proactive aggression, other externalizing and internalizing behavior, and parent-report psychopathic-like traits. In addition, cluster analyses of YPI scores revealed 2 groups of youth (low vs. high) who scored differently on measures of externalizing behavior. This study supports the utility of the YPI as a research tool for assessing juvenile psychopathic traits.

Validation of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory and Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory – Short Version Among Incarcerated Juvenile Delinquents

“…The validity of the YPI has further been demonstrated by significant moderate to moderate-high correlations in samples of boys and girls with the PCL: YV (r=0.29-0.51; Andershed et al 2007;Dolan and Rennie 2006b;Chauhan et al 2012;Skeem and Cauffman 2003) and even higher with the APSD (r=0.76-0.77; Seals et al 2012;Poythress et al 2006).…”

Cognitive Ability and Psychopathic Traits: Independent and Interactive Associations with Youth Conduct Problems

“…Additionally, to our knowledge, only two studies have compared how rulebreaking and aggressive behaviors may be differentially related to psychopathic traits. In a cross-sectional study of 10-18 year old boys, total psychopathy scores were positively associated with both rule-breaking and aggressive behaviors (Seals et al 2012); these findings were replicated in a 4-year longitudinal study of adolescents (Forsman et al 2010). Further, narcissism and CU traits were associated with rulebreaking, but not aggressive behaviors (Forsman et al 2010).…”

The Relationship between Self-rated Psychopathic Traits and Psychopathology in a Sample of Finnish Community Youth: Exploration of Gender Differences

“…To our knowledge, this is one of few studies [31,32] investigating the relationship between psychopathic traits and other forms of psychopathology in mid-adolescent community youth. Our special interest focused on gender differences in this relationship.…”

“…In line with previous research [31,33,34,39,40], and for greater interpretability across dimensions (which differ in number of items), we used the averaged dimension and total scores of the YPI. The scores were calculated by summing up the item scores on the respective scale and then dividing the sum score by the number of items on that scale.…”

“…These studies have shown strong correlations between psychopathic traits and externalizing problems [24], but the relationship between psychopathic traits and internalizing psychopathology has remained substantially more obscure, as studies have reported no [25,26], inverse [27,28], or positive correlations [29,30]. With regard to community samples, self-rated psychopathic traits have correlated positively with delinquent and externalizing behaviors, somatic complaints and attention problems in boys aged 8 to 18 years [31]. In a large community study comprising both genders [32], callous-unemotional traits correlated positively with externalizing, social, thought, and attention problems; however, correlations with internalizing problems were found only in girls.…”