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Associations between psychopathic traits and mental disorders among adolescents with substance use problems
Author(s) -
Hemphälä Malin,
Tengström Anders
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1348/014466509x439216
Subject(s) - psychopathy , psychology , psychopathy checklist , association (psychology) , substance use , conduct disorder , clinical psychology , correlation , checklist , developmental psychology , antisocial personality disorder , injury prevention , poison control , medicine , personality , environmental health , psychotherapist , geometry , mathematics , social psychology , cognitive psychology
Objectives. The aim of this study was to examine the association between psychopathic traits and mental disorders and to study associations between psychopathic traits and familial problems across gender. Design. This is a cross‐sectional study. Methods. One hundred and Eighty adolescents seeking help at a substance abuse treatment clinic (99 girls, 81 boys) and their parents (165 mothers, 90 fathers) were studied. The assessment included Psychopathy checklist: Youth version (PCL‐YV) and SCID I/II or Kiddie‐Sads‐Present and Lifetime Version (K‐SADS‐PL). Results. Across gender, there was a positive correlation between externalizing symptoms and PCL‐YV score. Among boys, there was a positive correlation between internalizing symptoms and PCL‐YV score. Further, the behavioural dimension of psychopathy was predictive of externalizing symptoms across gender. The interpersonal and affective dimension of psychopathy predicted oppositional defiant disorder (ODD)‐symptoms among girls. Parent problem behaviour predicted PCL‐YV score amongst girls only. Conclusions. Psychopathic traits do not only exist among adolescents who are identified because of their criminal behaviour. There were gender differences in the association between symptoms and psychopathic traits. It is suggested that different dimensions of psychopathy predisposed substance use for girls and for boys, and that ODD is particularly important in the expression of psychopathic traits among girls. This study showed transmission of antisocial behaviour between two generations among girls.