Prevalence of psychopathic traits in a large sample of Polish adolescents from rural and urban areas.

OBJECTIVE

The primary aim of the study was to assess the prevalence of psychopathic traits in a large sample of Polish adolescents representing both the rural and urban social milieu. An additional aim was to compare the results with similar studies conducted in other countries.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

The study was conducted on a sample of 9,415 secondary school students (4,808 boys, 4,607 girls) aged 13 - 16. Psychopathic traits were measured by teacher-report ratings with the Antisocial Process Screening Device scale (APSD).

RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS

Only a marginal part of the Polish adolescents demonstrated clinically significant symptoms of psychopathic disorder (N=253; 2.68%). There was a statistically significant difference between subjects from the rural (2.12%) and urban (3.45%) social milieu. Respective comparison showed that Polish youngsters scored much lower on total psychopathy scores than Chinese (Hong Kong) and American adolescents. The authors encourage replication of this research in other East European countries.