Child and Adolescent Psychopathy: The Search for Protective Factors

• NCJ Number: 221653
• Journal: Criminal Justice and Behavior Volume: 35 Issue: 2 Dated: February 2008 Pages: 159-172
• Author(s): Randall T. Salekin; John E. Lochman
• Date Published: February 2008
• Length: 14 pages
• Publication Format: Article
• Publication Type: Literature Review
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America

Annotation

After reviewing the research on psychopathy in children, this introductory paper summarizes the research on child psychopathy presented in this journal issue, which focuses on protective factors.

Abstract

The review of research on psychopathy in children since the late 1940s concludes that although significant progress has been made in the analysis of the features and the temporal stability of psychopathy, what is currently needed are studies on psychopathy in children and adolescents developmentally across time, with attention not only to risk factors but also protective factors. In order to better understand the risks and protective factors of psychopathy, the stability of psychopathic traits must be studied over time, and variables that could ultimately influence stability should be examined in order to identify potential protective factors. This will enable the identification of possible points of intervention that can disrupt the evolution of psychopathic characteristics toward more enduring personality characteristics and chronic antisocial behavior. The articles in this special journal issue focus on topics relevant to the identification of potential protective factors within a developmental psychopathology framework. The research presented is longitudinal, allowing for the examination of protective factors in real time. In providing a foundation for examining protective factors, the articles focus on genetics, peer relations, parental factors, and emotional and behavioral symptoms of psychopathy. This introductory article also offers recommendations for future research. It suggests that researchers examine broad content for protective factors in preventing the development of psychopathy, that protective factors be examined for their degree of fit to the concept being studied, that more powerful statistical techniques be used for the detection of protective factors, and that researchers examine more complex moderational models. 61 references