The psychopathy-concept and its psychometric evaluation in childhood and adolescence

In accordance with Robert Hare's concept, over twenty years the word psychopathy is used to describe a specific combination of affective and interpersonal traits in adults as subtype of antisocial personality disorder. Recently in North America personality traits of psychopathy have also been studied in juveniles (and children). The Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL-YV) was developed to take the special conditions of adolescents into account and focuses on assessing personality dimensions from age 12 upwards. In juveniles with a high score, research with the PCL-YV demonstrated for example a lack of empathy, impulsivity and social adjustment disorder. Furthermore, researchers found associations between the number and severity of violent offences, early drug abuse and heightened recidivism. This paper discusses the concept of psychopathy for adolescents on the basis of 3 case reports. Biological determinants, experimental results and diagnostic aspects are described.