Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-65tv2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-02T14:50:59.381Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Psychopathic personality development from ages 9 to 18: Genes and environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 May 2015

Catherine Tuvblad ,
Pan Wang ,
Serena Bezdjian ,
Adrian Raine  and
Laura A. Baker
Catherine Tuvblad*
Affiliation:
University of Southern California Örebro University
Pan Wang
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Serena Bezdjian
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
Adrian Raine
Affiliation:
University of Pennsylvania
Laura A. Baker
Affiliation:
University of Southern California
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Catherine Tuvblad, Department of Psychology, SGM 501, University of Southern California, 3620 South McClintock Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90089–1061; E-mail: tuvblad@usc.edu.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The genetic and environmental etiology of individual differences was examined in initial level and change in psychopathic personality from ages 9 to 18 years. A piecewise growth curve model, in which the first change score (G1) influenced all ages (9–10, 11–13, 14–15, and 16–18 years) and the second change score (G2) only influenced ages 14–15 and 16–18 years, fit the data better did than the standard single slope model, suggesting a turning point from childhood to adolescence. The results indicated that variations in levels and both change scores were mainly due to genetic (A) and nonshared environmental (E) influences (i.e., AE structure for G0, G1, and G2). No sex differences were found except on the mean values of level and change scores. Based on caregiver ratings, about 81% of variance in G0, 89% of variance in G1, and 94% of variance in G2 were explained by genetic factors, whereas for youth self-reports, these three proportions were 94%, 71%, and 66%, respectively. The larger contribution of genetic variance and covariance in caregiver ratings than in youth self-reports may suggest that caregivers considered the changes in their children to be more similar as compared to how the children viewed themselves.

Information

Type
Regular Articles
Information
Development and Psychopathology , Volume 28 , Issue 1 , February 2016 , pp. 27 - 44
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Achenbach, T. M. (1991). Manual for the Child Behavior Checklist/4–18 and 1991 profile: Burlington, VT: University of Vermont, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Achenbach, T. M., McConaughy, S. T., & Howell, C. T. (1987). Child/adolescent behavioral and emotional problems: Implications of cross-informant correlations for situational specificity. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 213–232.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Akaike, A. C. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52, 317–332.Google Scholar
Andershed, H., Kerr, M., Stattin, H., & Levander, S. (2002). Psychopathic traits in non-referred youths: A new assessment tool. In Blaauw, E. & Sheridan, L. (Eds.), Psychopaths: Current International Perspectives (pp. 131–158). The Hague: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Baker, L., Tuvblad, C., Wang, P., Gomez, K., & Raine, A. (2013). The Southern California Twin Register at the University of Southern California: III. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 16, 336–343.Google Scholar
Bartels, M., Hudziak, J. J., van den Oord, E. J. C. G., van Beijsterveldt, C. E. M., Rietveld, M. J. H., & Boomsma, D. (2003). Co-occurence of aggressive behavior and rule-breaking behavior at age 12: Multi-rater analyses. Behavior Genetics, 33, 607–621.Google Scholar
Beaver, K. M., Vaughn, M. G., & Delisi, M. (2013). Nonshared environmental effects on adulthood psychopathic personality traits: Results from a monozygotic twin difference scores analysis. Psychiatric Quarterly. Advance online publication. doi:10.1007/s11126-013-9255-5 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bezdjian, S., Raine, A., Baker, L. A., & Lynam, D. (2011). Psychopathic personality in children: Genetic and environmnetal contributions. Psychological Medicine, 41, 589–600.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bezdjian, S., Tuvblad, C., Raine, A., & Baker, L. A. (2011). The genetic and environmental covariation among psychopathic personality traits, and reactive and proactive aggression in childhood. Child Develoment, 82, 1267–1281.Google Scholar
Blair, J. R., Mitchell, D. A., & Blair, K. (2007). The psychopath, emotion and the brain. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Google Scholar
Blonigen, D. M., Hicks, B. M., Krueger, R. F., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2005). Psychopathic personality traits: Heritability and genetic overlap with internalizing and externalizing psychopathology. Psychological Medicine, 35, 637–648.Google Scholar
Blonigen, D. M., Hicks, B. M., Krueger, R. F., Patrick, C. J., & Iacono, W. G. (2006). Continuity and change in psychopathic traits as measured via normal-range personality: A longitudinal-biometric study. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 85–95.Google Scholar
Brook, M., Panizzon, M. S., Kosson, D. S., Sullivan, E. A., Lyons, M. J., Franz, C. E., et al. (2010). Psychopathic personality traits in middle-aged male twins: a behavior genetic investigation. Journal of Personality Disorders, 24, 473–486.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Burt, S. A., McGue, M., Carter, L. A., & Iacono, W. G. (2007). The different origins of stability and change in antisocial personality disorder symptoms. Psychological Medicine, 37, 27–38.Google Scholar
Caspi, A., Block, J., Block, J. H., Klopp, B., Lynam, D., Moffitt, T. E., et al. (1992). A common language version of the California Child Q-Set (CCQ) for Personality Assessment. Psychological Assessment, 4, 512–523.Google Scholar
Choudhury, S., Blakemore, S. J., & Charman, T. (2006). Social cognitive development during adolescence. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 1, 165–174.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Falkenbach, D. M., Poythress, N. G., & Heide, K. M. (2003). Psychopathic features in a juvenile diversion population: Reliability and predictive validity of two self-report measures. Behavioral Sciences and the Law, 21, 787–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontaine, N. M., Rijsdijk, F. V., McCrory, E. J., & Viding, E. (2010). Etiology of different developmental trajectories of callous-unemotional traits. Journal of the Amercan Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry 49, 656–664.Google ScholarPubMed
Forsman, M., Lichtenstein, P., Andershed, H., & Larsson, H. (2008). Genetic effects explain the stability of psychopathic personality from mid- to late adolescence. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 117, 606–617.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fowler, K. A., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2007). The Psychopathy Q-Sort: Construct validity evidence in a nonclinical sample. Assessment, 14, 75–79.Google Scholar
Frick, P. J., & Hare, R. D. (2002). Antisocial Process Screening Device. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Fung, M. T., Raine, A., Loeber, R., Lynam, D. R., Steinhauer, S. R., Venables, P. H., et al. (2005). Reduced electrodermal activity in psychopathy-prone adolescents. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 114, 187–196.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (1991). Manual for the Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi-Health System.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (2002). Psychopathy and risk for recidivism and violence. In Gray, J., Laing, J., & Noaks, L. (Eds.), Criminal justice, mental health, and politics of risk (pp. 27–47). London: Cavendish Publishing.Google Scholar
Hare, R. D. (2003). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) (2nd ed.). Toronto, Canada: Multi-Health Systems.Google Scholar
Heath, A. C., Madden, P. A., & Martin, N. G. (1998). Assessing the effects of cooperation bias and attrition in behavioral genetic research using data-weighting. Behavior Genetics, 28, 415–427.Google Scholar
Hollingshead, A. G. (1979). Four Factor Index of Social Status. Unpublished manuscript, Yale University.Google Scholar
Isen, J., Raine, A., Baker, L. A., Dawson, M. E., Bezdjian, S., & Lozano, D. I. (2010). Sex-specific association between psychopathic traits and electrodermal reactivity in children. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 119, 216–225 CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jacobson, K. C., Prescott, C. A., & Kendler, K. (2002). Sex differences in the genetic and environmental influences on the developement of antisocial behavior. Developmental Psychology, 14, 395–416.Google Scholar
Larsson, H., Andershed, H., & Lichtenstein, P. (2006). A genetic factor explains most of the variation in the psychopathic personality. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 221–230.Google Scholar
Larsson, H., Tuvblad, C., Rijsdijk, F. V., Andershed, H., Grann, M., & Lichtenstein, P. (2007). A common genetic factor explains the association between psychopathic personality and antisocial behavior. Psychological Medicine, 37, 15–26.Google Scholar
Lilienfeld, S. O., & Widows, M. R. (2005). Professional manual for the Psychopathic Personality Inventory—Revised: (PPI–R). Lutz, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.Google Scholar
Lynam, D. R. (1997). Pursuing the psychopath: capturing the fledgling psychopath in a nomological net. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 106, 425–438.Google Scholar
Lynam, D. R., Caspi, A., Moffitt, T. E., Raine, A., Loeber, R., & Stouthamer-Loeber, M. (2005). Adolescent psychopathy and the big five: Results from two samples. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 33, 431–443.Google Scholar
Marshal, W. (1978). Puberty. In Falkner, F. & Tanner, J. (Eds.), Human growth (Vol. 2). New York: Plenum Press.Google Scholar
McArdle, J. J. (1986). Latent variable growth within behavior genetic models. Behavior Genetics, 16, 163–200.Google Scholar
McArdle, J. J. (2006). Latent curve analyses of longitudinal twin data using a mixed-effects biometric approach. Twin Research and Human Genetics, 9, 343–359.Google Scholar
Miller, J. D., Jones, S. E., & Lynam, D. R. (2011). Psychopathic traits from the perspective of self and informant reports: Is there evidence for a lack of insight? Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 120, 758–764.Google Scholar
Muñoz, L. C., & Frick, P. J. (2007). The reliability, stability, and predictive utility of the self-report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device. Scandinavian Journal of Psychology, 48, 299–312.Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2007). Mplus user's guide (5th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Narusyte, J., Andershed, A.-K., Neiderhiser, J. M., & Lichtenstein, P. (2007). Aggression as a mediator of genetic contributions to the association between negative parent–child relationships and adolescent antisocial behavior. European Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 16, 128–137.Google Scholar
Neale, M. C., Boker, S. M., Xie, G., & Maes, H. (2003). Mx: Statistical modeling (6th ed.). Richmond, VA: Medical College of Virginia, Department of Psychiatry.Google Scholar
Neiderhiser, J. M., Reiss, D., Pedersen, N. L., Lichtenstein, P., Spotts, E. L., Hansson, K., et al. (2004). Genetic and environmental influences on mothering of adolescents: A comparison of two samples. Developmental Psychology, 40, 335–351.Google Scholar
Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2008). Psychopathic traits in a large community sample: Links to violence, alcohol use, and intelligence. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 76, 893–899.Google Scholar
Nicholls, T. L., Ogloff, J. R., Brink, J., & Spidel, A. (2005). Psychopathy in women: A review of its clinical usefulness for assessing risk for aggression and criminality. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 23, 779–802.Google Scholar
O'Connor, T. G., Deater-Deckard, K., Fulker, D., Rutter, M., & Plomin, R. (1998). Genotype–environment correlations in late childhood and early adolescence: antisocial behavioral problems and coercive parenting. Developmental Psychology, 34, 970–981.Google Scholar
Plomin, R., DeFries, J. C., McClearn, G. E., & McGuffin, P. (2008). Behavioral genetics (5th ed.). New York: Worth Publishers.Google Scholar
Raftery, A. E. (1995). Bayesian model selection in social research. Sociological Methodology, 25, 111–163.Google Scholar
Reise, S. P., & Oliver, C. J. (1994). Psychological implications of the Psychopathy Q-sort. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65, 300–312.Google Scholar
Sampson, R. J., & Laub, J. H. (1995). Crime in the making: Pathways and turning points through life. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
SAS Institute. (2005). SAS/STAT software: Changes and enhancements through release 9.2. Cary, NC: Author.Google Scholar
Taylor, A., Loney, B. R., Bobadilla, L., Iacono, W. G., & McGue, M. (2003). Genetic and environmental influences on psychopathy trait dimensions in a community sample of male twins. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 31, 633–645.Google Scholar
Tellegen, A., & Waller, N. G. (2008). Exploring personality through test construction: Development of the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire. In Boyle, G. J., Matthews, G., & Saklofske, D. H. (Eds.), The Sage handbook of personality theory and assessment: Vol. 2. Personality measurement and testing (pp. 261–292). London: SAGE.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuvblad, C., & Baker, L. A. (2011). Human aggression across the lifespan: Genetic propensities and environmental moderators. In Huber, R., Bannasch, D., & Brennan, P. (Vol. Eds.), Advances in genetics: Vol. 75. Aggression (pp. 171–214). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Waldman, I. D., & Rhee, S. (2006). Genetic and environmental influences on psychopathy and antisocial behavior. In Patrick, C. J. (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (pp. 205–228). New York: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Viding, E., Blair, J. R., Moffitt, T. E., & Plomin, R. (2005). Evidence of substantial genetic risk for psychopathy in 7–year-olds. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 46, 592–597.Google Scholar