Objective: To provide a best estimate of the prevalence of psychiatric disorders among detained male adolescents, with particular emphasis on impairment, multi-informant assessment, and race or ethnicity. Method: Computer-assisted searches were executed to identify relevant studies. Results: Fifteen studies using adolescents as informants met inclusion criteria ( n = 3401), of which only 2 reported within a subsample on parent-derived diagnoses. The mean prevalence of any disorder was 69.9% (95% CI 69.5% to 70.3%); with conduct disorder occurring most frequently (46.4%, 95% CI 45.6% to 47.3%), followed by substance use disorder (45.1%, 95% CI 44.6% to 45.5%), oppositional defiant disorder (19.8%, 95% CI 19.2% to 20.3%), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (13.5%, 95% CI 13.2% to 13.9%). Although lower, rates for internalizing disorders were still substantial, with any anxiety disorder found in 15.9% (95% CI 15.6% to 16.1%), major depression in 12.0% (95% CI 11.7% to 12.2%), and posttraumatic stress disorder in 9.6% (95% CI 9.2% to 10.0%). Three studies reported on psychotic disorders, finding low rates (1.35%, 95% CI 1.32% to 1.39%). Estimates of prevalence were only marginally different when impairment was not required, while consistency between adolescents and parents was poor. Findings on the relations between race or ethnicity were too scarce and inconsistent to interpret. Conclusion: Detained male adolescents bear substantial mental health needs, emphasizing the need to organize effective mental health services for this troubled group. However, our knowledge on mental disorders in detained youth should be enhanced, in particular regarding the reliability of adolescents, compared with parent report, and whether clinically relevant differences exist by race or ethnicity.

Understanding the development of psychopathic personality from childhood to adulthood is crucial for understanding the development and stability of severe and long-lasting conduct problems and criminal behavior. This paper describes the development of a new teacher rated instrument to assess psychopathic personality from age three to 12, the Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI). The reliability and validity of the CPTI was tested in a Swedish general population sample of 2,056 3- to 5-year-olds (mean age = 3.86; SD = .86; 53 % boys). The CPTI items loaded distinctively on three theoretically proposed factors: a Grandiose-Deceitful Factor, a Callous-Unemotional factor, and an Impulsive-Need for Stimulation factor. The three CPTI factors showed reliability in internal consistency and external validity, in terms of expected correlations with theoretically relevant constructs (e.g., fearlessness). The interaction between the three CPTI factors was a stronger predictor of concurrent conduct problems than any of the three individual CPTI factors, showing that it is important to assess all three factors of the psychopathic personality construct in early childhood. In conclusion, the CPTI seems to reliably and validly assess a constellation of traits that is similar to psychopathic personality as manifested in adolescence and adulthood.

This longitudinal study examines developmental heterogeneity in callous-unemotional (CU) traits in a large sample of school-age children in Cyprus. Latent Class Growth Analysis revealed 4 trajectory groups of CU traits across 3 time points: stable high, increasing, decreasing, and low. Findings suggested that children in the stable high CU trajectory were more likely to (a) exhibit high and stable levels of conduct problems, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder symptoms, impulsivity and narcissism, (b) experience low parental involvement and high parental distress, (c) report low peer support and school connectedness, and (d) score lower on academic performance, executive functioning, social competence, and self-regulation compared to children with low, decreasing, and increasing CU traits. These findings were verified by both parent and child reports. Repeated analysis of variance suggested that increases and decreases in CU traits were associated with similar changes in conduct problems, narcissism, impulsivity, and maternal involvement. Further, children in the decreasing trajectory group were not differentiated from children in the low risk group on measures of executive functioning, academic performance, school connectedness, and peer social support at the last wave of measurement. These findings provide evidence for the importance of taking longitudinal change into account for understanding developmental heterogeneity in CU traits and the association of these traits with possible protective (e.g., stable high maternal involvement) and risk (e.g., decreases in maternal involvement and increases in conduct problems, impulsivity and narcissism) variables. (PsycINFO Database Record

The aim of this study was to compare callous-unemotional (CU) traits versus the multidimensional psychopathy construct in their ability to predict future and stable antisocial behavior. At baseline, a community sample of 996 Cypriot 12-year old adolescents (52% girls) completed measures that tap conduct problems (CP) and psychopathic traits, including CU. CP, aggression, and substance use were self-reported at 1–3 year follow-ups. Youths were assigned to six mutually exclusive groups based on their baseline levels of CP and psychopathic traits. Youth with CP scoring high on all three psychopathic traits dimensions (Psychopathic Personality + CP) showed the most robust and highest risk for future and stable CP, aggression, and substance use, followed by youth who were high on all three psychopathic traits dimensions but displayed no concurrent CP (Psychopathic Personality Only) and CP youth with low levels of psychopathic traits (CP Only). Youth with CP who merely manifested callous-unemotional traits (Callous-Unemotional + CP) were only at risk for future CP. The findings suggest that the CU traits-based approach for subtyping children with CP is less informative compared to a subtyping approach using various psychopathic traits dimensions in predicting future and stable forms of various antisocial outcomes. These findings and their consistency with prior work indicate the need for additional research to examine the various psychopathic traits dimensions rather than focusing solely on CU traits, especially for CP subtyping purposes.

This study examined the factor structure, reliability, and validity of the Antisocial Process Screening Device–Self-Report (APSD-SR), the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), and the YPI–Short Version (YPI-SV) in detained female adolescents aged 12 to 17 years. The proposed three-factor structure of the YPI and YPI-SV was replicated, whereas the proposed three-factor structure of the APSD-SR or alternate models did not yield adequate fit. Overall, reliability indices for the YPI and YPI-SV were higher than those reported for the APSD-SR. APSD-SR and YPI scales were positively related with each other, except the affective dimensions of the instruments. All questionnaires showed good criterion validity but the YPI’s factor structure and reliability was superior to the APSD-SR. This superiority is not because of the larger number of items in the YPI, because we also demonstrated that the factor structure and reliability of the YPI-SV was better than that of the APSD-SR.