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Psychopathic Traits in Middle Childhood: Evidence of a Hierarchical Three-Factor Structure

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Abstract

Although the development of psychopathy is not well understood, prior studies suggest that psychopathic traits begin to develop in childhood. Whereas research suggests consistency in the structure and correlates of psychopathic traits as assessed with clinical measures of psychopathic traits in adolescence and in adulthood, there is less agreement about the nature of psychopathic traits earlier in childhood. This study was designed to enhance understanding of the nature of psychopathic traits in youth by: 1) examining the fit of one, two, three, and four factor models of psychopathic traits during middle childhood, and 2) examining the stability of the factor structure of psychopathic traits over time through invariance testing. The participants were youth in the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD) whose teachers provided ratings on 17 items associated with four validated dimensions of psychopathy at six (N = 605), seven (N = 747) and eight years of age (N = 686). Confirmatory factor analyses revealed that a hierarchical three-factor model of psychopathic traits, consisting of interpersonal, affective, and lifestyle/ antisocial components provided the best fit to the data at all three ages. Analyses also demonstrated strong invariance across these ages. These findings provide preliminary evidence that the internal structure for a syndrome of psychopathic traits in middle childhood is somewhat similar but slightly less differentiated than the factor structure identified during adolescence. Current findings also suggest that this internal structure is stable over a three-year period during middle childhood.

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Notes

  1. Although strong invariance is the gold standard, Widaman et al. (2011) suggest that partial strong invariance, in which some thresholds vary across age, is adequate.

  2. For binary variables using weighted least squares estimation and the theta parameterization, Muthén and Muthén (1998-2017) recommend that the factor loadings, thresholds, and variances are freed across groups, that residual variances are fixed to one, factor means are fixed to zero, and factor loadings are fixed to one across groups. For the strong (scalar) model, they recommend constraining factor loadings and thresholds to be equal across groups, fixing residual variances to one and factor means to zero in one group, fixing the factor loading to one and freeing factor variances across groups.

  3. For the configural model, Panayiotou (2017) recommended equating the loadings and thresholds of items across waves, setting the item residual variances to one and the factor intercepts to zero in Time 1 but allowing them to vary at subsequent time points, allowing factor disturbances and second-order factor loadings to be free, and setting second-order factor means to zero at all time points. In the metric (weak) model, the configural model constraints were applied and the second-order factor loadings equated (Panayiotou 2017; M. Panayiotou, personal communication, March 7, 2018). In the scalar (strong) model, the metric model constraints were applied with the second-order factor means set to zero at Time 1 and the first-order factor intercepts fixed at zero at all time-points (full scalar intercept invariance).

  4. Muthén and Muthén (1998-2017), Muthén (2017b), and Grimm (K.J. Grimm, personal communication, January 18–19, 2018) suggested using weighted least squares estimation, theta parameterization, and constraining item variances of all items to 1.

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Acknowledgments

This work, as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), was supported by the Québec Government’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Family Affairs, the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture, the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. We gratefully acknowledge the contribution of the QLSCD participants and their families. We thank the Institut de la statistique du Québec and Qian Xu for data management, as well as their partners, the Research Unit on Childhood Psychosocial Maladjustment, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, and Dr. Sheilagh Hodgins for bringing us together. Nathalie M. G. Fontaine is a Research Scholar, Junior 1, Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé. This study was conducted with help from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Grants OGE#111395 and MOP#114984 awarded to Michel Boivin).

Funding

This study was funded by Grants OGE#111395 and MOP#114984 awarded to Michel Boivin.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, 3333 Green Bay Road, North Chicago, IL, 60064, USA

    Hillary M. Gorin, David S. Kosson & Steven A. Miller

  2. School of Criminology and Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Pavillon Lionel-Groulx, C.P. 6128, succ. Centre-ville, Montréal, QC, H3C 3J7, Canada

    Nathalie M. G. Fontaine

  3. School of Psycho-Education, Canada, Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Frank Vitaro

  4. CHU Ste-Justine Research Center, 3050 boul. Édouard-Montpetit, local B-234, Montréal, QC, H3T 1J7, Canada

    Frank Vitaro

  5. Department of Psychiatry and Addiction, Canada, Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Jean R. Séguin

  6. CHU Ste-Justine Research Center, 3175 Côte Ste-Catherine Bloc 5, local 1573, Montréal, QC, H3T 1C5, Canada

    Jean R. Séguin & Richard E. Tremblay

  7. École de psychologie, Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, School of Psychology, University of Laval, Quebec, Canada

    Michel Boivin

  8. Institute of Genetic, Neurobiological, Social Foundations of Child Development, Tomsk State University, Pavillon Félix-Antoine-Savard, 2325, rue des Bibliothèques Local 1224, Québec, G1V 0A6, Siberia, Russia

    Michel Boivin

  9. Department of Social and Preventive Medicine, Canada, Research Centre, CHU Sainte-Justine Research Center, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Sylvana Côté

  10. Bordeaux Population Health Research Centre, University of Bordeaux, INSERM U1219, 3175, chemin de la Côte Ste-Catherine, Montréal (Qc), H3T 1C5 Bloc 17, étage B, local, 105, Bordeaux, France

    Sylvana Côté

  11. Departments of Pediatrics and Psychology, Canada, Research Unit on Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Richard E. Tremblay

  12. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, University College Dublin, 3050 boul. Édouard-Montpetit, local A-210, Montréal, QC, H3T 1J7, Dublin, Ireland

    Richard E. Tremblay

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  1. Hillary M. Gorin
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  2. David S. Kosson
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  3. Steven A. Miller
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  4. Nathalie M. G. Fontaine
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  5. Frank Vitaro
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  6. Jean R. Séguin
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  7. Michel Boivin
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  8. Sylvana Côté
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  9. Richard E. Tremblay
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Hillary M. Gorin or David S. Kosson.

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Conflicts of Interest

Hillary M. Gorin, David S. Kosson, Steven A. Miller, Nathalie M. G. Fontaine, Frank Vitaro, Jean R. Séguin, Michel Boivin, Sylvana Côté, and Richard E. Tremblay declare no conflicts of interest.

Experiment Participants

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. This study was also approved by the CHU Sainte-Justine ethics board.

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Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants (parents and teachers) included in this study. Children (under the age of 18) did not provide consent, in accordance with Canadian law.

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Gorin, H.M., Kosson, D.S., Miller, S.A. et al. Psychopathic Traits in Middle Childhood: Evidence of a Hierarchical Three-Factor Structure. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 41, 341–352 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-019-09733-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-019-09733-2

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