Department of Psychology, 126 Heyne Building, Houston, Texas, 77204, USA.
Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2010 Sep 3;4:24. doi: 10.1186/1753-2000-4-24.
In his developmental model of emerging psychopathy, Lynam proposed that the "fledgling psychopath" is most likely to be located within a subgroup of children elevated in both hyperactivity/inattention/impulsivity (HIA) and conduct problems (CP). This approach has garnered some empirical support. However, the extent to which Lynam's model captures children who resemble psychopathy with regard to the core affective and interpersonal features remains unclear.
In the present study, we investigated this issue within a large community sample of youth (N = 617). Four groups (non-HIA-CP, HIA-only, CP-only, and HIA-CP), defined on the basis of teacher reports of the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ), were compared with respect to parent-reported psychopathic-like traits and subjective emotional reactivity in response to unpleasant, emotionally-laden pictures from the International Affective Pictures System (IAPS).
Results did not support Lynam's model. HIA-CP children did not appear most psychopathic-like on dimensions of callous-unemotional and narcissistic personality, nor did they report reduced emotional reactivity to the IAPS relative to the other children. Post-hoc regression analyses revealed a significant moderation such that elevated HIA weakened the association between CP and emotional underarousal.
Implications of these findings with regard to the development of psychopathy are discussed.
在他关于新兴精神病态学的发展模型中，莱纳姆（Lynam）提出，“初出茅庐的精神病态者”最有可能存在于同时具有多动/注意力不集中/冲动（HIA）和行为问题（CP）的儿童亚组中。这种方法已经获得了一些经验支持。然而，莱纳姆的模型在多大程度上可以捕捉到与核心情感和人际关系特征相似的精神病态儿童，这一点尚不清楚。
在本研究中，我们在一个大型的社区青年样本（N=617）中调查了这个问题。根据教师对《长处与困难问卷》（SDQ）的报告，基于四个群体（非 HIA-CP、HIA 组、CP 组和 HIA-CP 组），比较了家长报告的精神病态特征与对来自国际情感图片系统（IAPS）的不愉快、情感化图片的主观情绪反应。
结果不支持莱纳姆的模型。HIA-CP 儿童在冷酷无情和自恋人格特质方面并不显得最具精神病态特征，也没有报告相对于其他儿童，他们对 IAPS 的情绪反应减弱。事后回归分析显示出显著的调节作用，即 HIA 的升高减弱了 CP 与情绪唤醒不足之间的关联。
讨论了这些发现对精神病态发展的意义。
