Southern Methodist University, University Park, TX, USA.
J Abnorm Child Psychol. 2011 Oct;39(7):1013-23. doi: 10.1007/s10802-011-9512-8.
This study examined whether Project Support, a parenting intervention shown to reduce child conduct problems, also exerts positive effects on features of psychopathy in children. Participants were 66 families (mothers and children) recruited from domestic violence shelters who participated in a randomized controlled trial evaluating Project Support. Each family included at least one child between the ages of 4 and 9 who was exhibiting clinical levels of conduct problems. Families were randomly assigned to the Project Support intervention condition or to an existing services comparison condition, and they were assessed on 6 occasions over 20 months, following their departure from the shelter. Children in families in the Project Support condition, compared with those in the comparison condition, exhibited greater reductions in features of psychopathy. Moreover, the changes in features of psychopathy remained after accounting for changes in conduct problems. Project Support's effects on features of psychopathy were mediated by improvements in mothers' harsh and inconsistent parenting. These findings on the effects of an intervention on features of psychopathy are the first from a randomized controlled trial. They inform the debate about whether features of psychopathy in children are responsive to intervention, and hold important implications for clinical practice.
本研究考察了亲子干预项目（Project Support）是否对儿童的精神病态特征产生积极影响，该项目已被证明可以减少儿童的行为问题。参与者是来自家庭暴力庇护所的 66 个家庭（母亲和孩子），他们参加了一项随机对照试验，评估了 Project Support 的效果。每个家庭至少有一个 4 至 9 岁的孩子，表现出临床水平的行为问题。家庭被随机分配到 Project Support 干预组或现有服务对照组，并在离开庇护所后的 20 个月内接受了 6 次评估。与对照组相比，接受 Project Support 干预的家庭中的孩子表现出精神病态特征的更大程度降低。此外，在考虑到行为问题的变化后，精神病态特征的变化仍然存在。母亲严厉和不一致的育儿方式的改善介导了 Project Support 对精神病态特征的影响。这是随机对照试验中首次关于干预对精神病态特征影响的研究结果。它们为关于儿童的精神病态特征是否对干预有反应的争论提供了信息，并对临床实践具有重要意义。
