Maya Suter

Factor Structure of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory: Using the Total Score, Three Scale Scores, and/or 10 Subscale Scores

The Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) assesses psychopathic traits cost-effectively while minimizing social desirability. To determine which YPI summary scores should be used, we tested (a) the factorial validity of its three scales and 10 subscales, (b) the fit of a new bifactor model, and (c) the measurement invariance of the best model across gender, age, and community/institutionalized samples. Three hundred ninety-five community adolescents (M age 15.8) and 200 institutionalized adolescents (M age 15.0) filled in the French translation of the YPI. The factorial validity of the 10 subscales was supported by confirmatory factor analysis. Model comparisons favored the new bifactor model, independent of age, gender, and community/institutionalized status. Measurement invariance was confirmed. These findings support the previous YPI validation studies conducted on the 10 subscale scores, and suggest that YPI users should rely in all samples on the simultaneous use of the total score and the three scale scores, which is a common practice.

Cognitive and Emotional Deficits Associated with Minor and Serious Delinquency in High-Risk Adolescents

This study aims at evaluating how minor and serious delinquency relates to cognitive and emotional functioning in high-risk adolescents, taking problematic substance use into account. In 80 high-risk adolescent males (13–19 years), the frequency of minor and serious offences committed over the last year was predicted, in multiple regression analyses, from problematic substance use, intellectual efficiency, trait impulsivity, alexithymia (inability to express feelings in words), and cognitive coping strategies. Both minor and serious delinquency were more frequent in adolescents with more problematic substance use and higher intellectual efficacy. Minor delinquency was further related to a tendency to act out when experiencing negative emotions, and difficulties in focusing energy on instrumental action when under stress; while serious delinquency was predominantly and strongly related to rigid and dichotomous thinking. The results underline the heterogeneous nature of delinquency, minor offences being primarily associated with emotional regulation deficits, while major offences are related with a lack of cognitive flexibility.

Implicit attitudes and self-concepts towards transgression and aggression: differences between male community and offender adolescents, and associations with psychopathic traits.

Research suggests that implicit attitudes play a key role in the occurrence of antisocial behaviours. This study assessed implicit attitudes and self-concepts related to aggression and transgression in community and offender adolescents, using a new set of Implicit Association Tests (IATs), and examined their association with of psychopathic traits. Thirty-six offenders and 66 community adolescents performed 4 IATs assessing 1) implicit attitudes about a) aggression and b) transgression as good, and 2) implicit self-concepts about a) aggression and b) transgression as self-descriptive. They filled in self-report questionnaires: the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, the Child Behaviour Checklist, and explicit measures of their attitudes and self-concepts towards transgression and aggression. Results showed few differences between community and offender adolescents on implicit attitudes and self-concepts, and unexpected negative associations between some implicit attitudes and psychopathic traits, while the association was positive for the corresponding explicit attitudes. Possible explanations of these findings are discussed.

Profile of male adolescents with conduct disorder on intellectual efficacy, cognitive flexibility, cognitive coping, impulsivity and alexithymia: A comparison with high-risk controls

Background and Objectives: To specify which of the documented cognitive and emotional deficits characterize adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) compared with high-risk controls. Methods: High-risk adolescent males with and without CD were compared on intellectual efficiency, cognitive flexibility, impulsivity, alexithymia, and cognitive coping strategies. Substance use was controlled for in analyses. Results: Both groups showed normal intellectual efficiency and cognitive flexibility, as well as heightened alexithymia and behavioral impulsivity. Youths with CD evidenced more self-defeating and black-and-white thinking under stress, and more acting-out under negative affect, than those without CD. Conclusions: Deficits specific to CD resided in facets of emotional functioning and cognitive coping that might be targeted by a coping skills intervention

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) Goes to Jail

Ecological Momentary Assessment (EMA) involves the repeated collection of data in everyday life. This method has helped uncover underlying mechanisms in several mental disorders. EMA studies are still scarce in adolescent patients and particularly incarcerated juvenile offenders (IJO), possibly due to their frequent rule-breaking and high impulsivity. This study evaluated the feasibility and reliability of EMA in IJO. One hundred three antisocial adolescents (mean age 14.8, 78% boys, including 52 IJO and 51 institutionalized antisocial adolescents, IAA) answered four times a day during 8 days questions about their antisocial behavior, negative affect, impulsivity, and fear of punishment, on a handheld computer. Staff members also regularly reported on each participant’s antisocial behavior. This first application of EMA in IJO overall supported its feasibility, with an excellent participation rate (95%) and a good compliance in completers (84%). About one-third of IJO participants dropped out, with no evidence of sampling bias across a wide range of indicators, while 96% of IAA completed EMA. No reactivity or lack of objectivity was observed. One- to two-thirds of the variance was within-person and reliability was acceptable to good. EMA can thus be reliably used in IJO to study the dynamics of daily antisocial behavior as it naturally unfolds in its context.

Specific Contributions of Age of Onset, Callous-Unemotional Traits and Impulsivity to Reactive and Proactive Aggression in Youths with Conduct Disorders.

Youths with conduct disorders (CD) are particularly studied for their violent and aggressive behaviors. Many researchers considered aggressive behaviors as being either reactive or proactive. Moreover, factors such as age of CD onset, impulsivity, and callous-unemotional traits, separately, have been related to these different types of aggressive behaviors. However, very few studies addressed the combined contribution of these three factors on proactive and reactive aggression. This question was tested in a sample composed of 43 male adolescents with CD. A single regression analysis including all predictors and outcomes, using Bayesian statistics, was computed. Results indicated that impulsivity was related to reactive aggression, while CU traits were related to proactive aggression. These results suggest first, an important heterogeneity among youth with CD, probably leading to different trajectories and, second, that youths with callous-unemotional traits should receive special attention and care as they are more at risk for proactive aggression.

Constructive Thinking Skills and Impulsivity Dimensions in Conduct and Substance Use Disorders: Differences and Relationships in an Adolescents’ Sample

AbstractImpact of conduct disorder (CD) and substance use disorder (SUD) on constructive thinking skills and impulsivity was explored. 71 offending adolescents were assessed for CD and SUD. Furthermore, the constructive thinking inventory, the immediate and delayed memory tasks and the UPPS impulsive behaviour scale were administered. Results showed that youths with CD, independently from SUD, presented higher personality impulsivity (urgency) and altered constructive thinking skills (categorical thinking and personal superstitious thinking). Furthermore, trait-impulsivity explained variation in constructive thinking skills. The implications of these results were discussed.

Predicting daily-life antisocial behaviour in institutionalized adolescents with Transgression-related Implicit Association Tests

Abstract This study investigated whether implicit attitude (IA) and implicit self-concept (ISC) towards transgression predicted daily-life antisocial behaviour (ASB) in institutionalized adolescents. Eighty-seven adolescents completed two Implicit Association Tests (IAT) assessing IA and ISC towards transgression, and reported four times a day during eight days the intensity of their ASB. Staff members concurrently reported the intensity of each adolescent’s ASB. Adolescents filled in the Inventory for Callous-Unemotional Traits and answered a semi-structured interview assessing conduct disorder. Multilevel regression analyses confirmed that adolescents’ ISC towards transgression significantly predicted their self - and staff-reported ASB over and above conduct disorder and callous-unemotional traits. However, adolescents’ IA towards transgression did not predict their ASB. Results indicate that ISC towards transgression is a reliable predictor of daily-life ASB in institutionalized adolescents. These results suggest that transgression-related ISC represents a promising target for ASB prevention in institutionalized adolescents.

Empathy in Institutionalized Adolescents With Callous-Unemotional Traits An Ecological Momentary Assessment Study of Emotion Recognition

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits are associated with impaired distress recognition, possibly leading to suboptimal empathy development. Evidence stems from computerized task results, having little in common with day-to-day experiences. We assessed institutionalized adolescents’ empathic accuracy in their ability to infer staff members’ emotions, using Ecological Momentary Assessment. A sample of 55 adolescents reported perceived levels of distress and anger in staff, 4 times per day over the course of 8 days. CU traits were assessed with the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory, and data were submitted to multilevel regression analyses. All adolescents well identified anger and distress; high CU adolescents even overestimated both anger and distress intensities. Our ecological data suggest that in real-life situations, cognitive empathy skills may compensate for high CU adolescents’ distress recognition impairment. However, this compensatory process results in the perception of excessively negative emotions.

Contribution of Implicit/Explicit Self-Esteem and Gender in Psychopathic Traits at Adolescence

The present study aimed to investigate gender-specific combinations of implicit and explicit self-esteem, helping to understand psychopathic traits (lifestyle, affective, and interpersonal) in adolescents at risk of delinquency. Two hundred thirty-one adolescent boys and girls (from public schools and child welfare and juvenile justice institutions) completed questionnaires measuring explicit self-esteem and psychopathic traits, as well as a computerized Implicit Association Test (IAT) assessing implicit self-esteem. Boys at risk of delinquent behaviors with anxious self-esteem (high implicit/low explicit) as well as at-risk girls with defensive self-esteem (low implicit/high explicit) displayed the highest scores in interpersonal and lifestyle traits. No relationship was found between gender-specific combinations of self-esteem and affective traits. Two gender-specific profiles were identified among the group at risk of delinquent behaviors: Girls with a defensive self-esteem (low implicit/high explicit) and boys with an anxious (or damaged) self-esteem (high implicit/low explicit) presented more interpersonal and lifestyle traits than other groups.