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Comorbidities and Biological Correlates of Conduct Disorder

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Psychopathy: Theory, Research and Implications for Society

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASID,volume 88))

Abstract

Chronic antisocial syndromes in adulthood are preceded by antisocial behavior in childhood and adolescence (Robins, 1966, 1978). The near-universality of this sequence is codified in the DSM-IV (American Psychiatric Association, 1994) definition of Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD), in the diagnostic criterion requiring that Conduct Disorder (CD) originated before the age of 15 years. Unlike the diagnostic category of APD, psychopathy is measured dimensionally, and it has no essential diagnostic requirements even when dimension score cutpoints are applied to make a categorical distinction. Documentation of youthful onset can only raise the dimensional score by affecting the two (of a total of 20) items from the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised PCL-R (Hare, 1991) that refer to antisocial behavior during the developmental period—early behavior problems and juvenile delinquency. Yet, developmental origin is just as axiomatic for psychopathy as for APD (Hare, 1970).

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Irvine, USA

    Keith McBurnett & Linda Pfiffner

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  1. Keith McBurnett
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  2. Linda Pfiffner
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Douglas Inch Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK

    David J. Cooke

  2. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada

    Adelle E. Forth

  3. University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada

    Robert D. Hare

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McBurnett, K., Pfiffner, L. (1998). Comorbidities and Biological Correlates of Conduct Disorder. In: Cooke, D.J., Forth, A.E., Hare, R.D. (eds) Psychopathy: Theory, Research and Implications for Society. NATO ASI Series, vol 88. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3965-6_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-011-3965-6_9

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  • Online ISBN: 978-94-011-3965-6

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