Biomedical subjects

Paul J Frick

Publications and source records attributed to Paul J Frick.

13 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2004

Integrating research on temperament and childhood psychopathology: its pitfalls and promise.

This article discusses the promise and problems associated with integrating research on child temperament and research on childhood psychopathology. Unfortunately, these 2 extensive and influential areas of psychological research with children have largely been conducted independently of each other. This article provides a summary of the disciplinary, conceptual, and methodological issues that have hampered an integration of these 2 important bodies of research. It also highlights the great promise that such an integration could have for advancing causal theories of childhood disorders and for eventually improving the treatment provided to children with serious emotional and behavioral disturbances.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2004

Temperament and developmental pathways to conduct problems.

This article reviews research linking a number of temperamental vulnerabilities to the development of severe conduct problems in children. Also reviewed are 2 areas of research that focus on important developmental processes that could mediate the relation between temperament and conduct problems. These processes are the development of emotional regulatory abilities and the development of the affective components of conscience. Both of these processes have been associated with certain temperamental vulnerabilities, and they can both place a child at risk for the development of conduct problems. Importantly, these 2 processes may designate children who develop conduct problems through distinct causal pathways and, as a result, could help to explain some of the subtypes of antisocial youth reported in past research.

Adaptation, Psychological↗

PubMed2003

The 4 year stability of psychopathic traits in non-referred youth.

One significant limitation in research extending the construct of psychopathy to youth has been the absence of longitudinal studies testing the stability of psychopathic traits prior to adulthood. To begin to address this limitation, the current study estimated the stability of psychopathic traits over a 4 year period in a sample of non-referred children in the third, fourth, sixth, and seventh grades at the first assessment. For parent ratings of psychopathic traits, stability estimates using intra-class correlation coefficients ranged from 0.80 to 0.88 across 2-4 years, with a stability estimate of 0.93 across all four assessments. There were also distinct trends in the patterns of stability found in the sample. Specifically, children rated as being initially high on these traits were more likely to be rated lower at later assessments than was the case for children rated initially low on these traits. Finally, the child's level of conduct problems, the socioeconomic status of the child's family, and the quality of parenting the child received were the most consistent predictors of stability of psychopathic traits.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Callous-unemotional traits and conduct problems in the prediction of conduct problem severity, aggression, and self-report of delinquency.

The role of callous-unemotional (CU) traits and conduct problems in predicting conduct problem severity, severity and type of aggression, and self-reported delinquency at a 1-year follow-up was investigated in a sample of 98 children (mean age 12.43; SD = 1.72) recruited from a community-wide screening. Children with both CU traits and conduct problems had a greater number and variety of conduct problems at follow-up than children who at the screening had high levels of conduct problems alone. However, this poorer outcome for children with CU traits could largely be accounted for by differences in initial level of conduct problem severity. Children with CU traits and conduct problems were also at risk for showing higher levels of aggression, especially proactive aggression, and self-reported delinquency. Importantly, these outcomes could not be solely explained by initial level of conduct problem severity. Finally, CU traits predicted self-reported delinquency in some children who did not initially show high levels of conduct problems and this predictive relationship seemed to be strongest for girls in the sample who were high on CU traits but who did not show significant conduct problems.

Affect↗

PubMed2003

Callous-unemotional traits and developmental pathways to severe conduct problems.

One method for defining pathways through which children develop severe conduct problems is based on the presence or absence of callous-unemotional (CU) traits. This study investigated potential differences between nonreferred children (mean age = 12.36 years; SD = 1.73) with and without CU traits (n = 98). Children with conduct problems, irrespective of the presence of CU traits, tended to have significant problems in emotional and behavioral regulation. In contrast, CU traits, irespective of the presence of conduct problems, were associated with a lack of behavioral inhibition. Hostile attributional biases were associated with conduct problems but only in boys and in the absence of CU traits. These findings suggest that the processes underlying deficits in emotional and behavioral regulation in children with conduct problems may be different for children with CU traits.

Antisocial Personality Disorder↗

PubMed2003

Callous/unemotional traits and social-cognitive processes in adjudicated youths.

OBJECTIVE: There seem to be two dimensions associated with psychopathic traits in youths: a callous/unemotional factor (C/U) and an impulsivity/conduct problems factor (I/CP). This study sought to clarify the nature of these two factors and examine their relation with social-cognitive problems in incarcerated adolescents. METHOD: One hundred sixty-nine male and female adjudicated youths were recruited for participation. Self-report measures and archival data were used to assess psychopathic traits, emotional distress, behavioral dysregulation, social-cognitive processes, and delinquency severity. RESULTS: Analyses demonstrated that the I/CP factor is associated with increased levels of dysregulated behavior, while the C/U dimension is related to deficits in empathy. The two factors exhibited differential relations with measures of emotional distress and fearfulness. C/U traits were associated with an increased focus on the positive aspects of aggression and a decreased focus on the negative aspects of hostile acts. Findings remained after controlling for demographic characteristics, abuse history, intellectual abilities, and delinquency severity. CONCLUSIONS: Results provide support for the two-dimensional nature of psychopathy in youths and suggest that C/U traits are associated with lower emotional distress and a specific social information-processing pattern. The potential implications for working with adjudicated youths exhibiting C/U traits are noted.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

Callous-unemotional traits, impulsivity, and emotional processing in adolescents with antisocial behavior problems.

Examined the emotional reactivity of adolescents with antisocial behavior problems using a lexical decision paradigm. Evidence from adult forensic samples indicates that psychopathic traits are associated with abnormalities in the processing of emotional stimuli. In an attempt to extend these findings earlier in development, this association was tested in a sample of adolescents (mean age = 16.01; SD = 1.32) referred to a diversion program for delinquent behavior. Emotional processing was assessed by comparing recognition time for emotional words, both positive and negative, to recognition time for nonemotional words. Consistent with adult findings, the callous-unemotional (CU) dimension of psychopathy was associated with slower reaction times to negative words. In contrast, problems of impulse control were associated with faster recognition times for negative emotional words. These findings suggest that different patterns of emotional reactivity may characterize distinct subgroups of youth with antisocial behavior problems.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2003

The relation of narcissism and self-esteem to conduct problems in children: a preliminary investigation.

Investigated several possible models to explain the seemingly discrepant relations between self-esteem and conduct problems, as both low self-esteem and exaggerated levels of self-esteem, thought to be captured by narcissism, have been associated with aggressive and antisocial behavior. Our sample consisted of 98 nonreferred children (mean age = 11.9 years; SD = 1.68 years) recruited from public schools to oversample children at risk for severe aggressive and antisocial behavior. Results indicated that certain aspects of narcissism (i.e., those indicating a need to be evaluated well by, and obtain status over, others) were particularly predictive of maladaptive characteristics and outcomes such as low self-esteem, callous-unemotional (CU) traits, and conduct problems. In addition, the relation between narcissism and conduct problems was moderated by self-esteem level, such that children with relatively high levels of narcissism and low self-esteem showed the highest rates of conduct-problem symptoms.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2002

Juvenile psychopathy from a developmental perspective: implications for construct development and use in forensic assessments.

D. Seagrave and T. Grisso (2002) provide a review of the emerging research on the construct of juvenile psychopathy and make the important point that use of this construct in forensic decision-making could have serious consequences for juvenile offenders. Furthermore, the existing literature on the construct of psychopathy in youth is not sufficient to justify its use for most forensic purposes. These basic points are very important cautions on the use of measures of psychopathy in forensic settings. However, in this response, several issues related to the reasons given for why concern over the potential misuse of measures of psychopathy should be greater than that for measures of other psychopathological constructs used to make decisions with potentially serious consequences are discussed. Also, the rationale for some of the standards proposed to guide research on measures of juvenile psychopathy that focus on assumptions about the construct of psychopathy that are not clearly articulated and that are only peripherally related to validating their use in forensic assessments is questioned.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2000

The importance of callous-unemotional traits for extending the concept of psychopathy to children.

This study focused on the use of callous-unemotional (CU) traits to identify a subgroup of children with both attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a conduct problem diagnosis (oppositional defiant disorder [ODD] or conduct disorder [CD] who show characteristics similar to adults with psychopathy. In a clinic-referred sample of children aged 6 to 13 years (N = 154), those with diagnoses of both ADHD and ODD/CD were divided on the basis of teacher ratings of CU traits. Children high on these traits showed features typically associated with psychopathy, such as a lack of fearfulness and a reward-dominant response style. Furthermore, children with CU traits seemed less distressed by their behavior problems. These findings are consistent with research on adults showing that impulsivity and antisocial behavior alone are insufficient to document persons who fit the construct of psychopathy.

Black or African American↗

PubMed1999

Association of parental psychopathology to the comorbid disorders of boys with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder.

This study examined whether particular forms of parental psychopathology are related to similar forms of comorbid psychopathology in offspring with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Parental disorders were assessed using maternal interviews, and child disorders were assessed using multiple-informant interviews for 111 clinic-referred boys (aged 7-12) with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (3rd ed., rev.; American Psychiatric Association, 1987) ADHD. Associations between parental and child internalizing disorders and between parental and child externalizing disorders were found, but associations across categories of disorder (i.e., internalizing and externalizing) were not. Similar relationships were observed in 66 clinic-referred boys without ADHD. These findings support specific modes of familial transmission, in contrast to theories that comorbidity simply reflects more severe psychopathology in children with ADHD.

Adult↗

PubMed1995

Four-year longitudinal study of conduct disorder in boys: patterns and predictors of persistence.

A prospective study of conduct disorder (CD) was conducted using 4 annual structured diagnostic interviews of 171 clinic-referred boys, their parents, and their teachers. Only about half of the 65 boys who met criteria for CD in Year 1 met criteria again during the next year, but 88% met criteria for CD again at least once during the next 3 years. For most boys with CD, the number of symptoms fluctuated above and below the diagnostic threshold from year to year but remained relatively high. Lower socioeconomic status, parental antisocial personality disorder (APD), and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder were significant correlates of CD in Year 1, but the interaction of parental APD and the boy's verbal intelligence predicted the persistence of CD symptoms over time (i.e., only boys without a parent with APD and with above-average verbal intelligence clearly improved).

Child↗

PubMed1991

Academic underachievement and the disruptive behavior disorders.

Academic underachievement (AU) was studied among 177 clinic-referred boys reliably diagnosed as having attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or conduct disorder (CD). Unlike previous studies, the present study assessed AU using a formula that determined the discrepancy between a child's predicted level of achievement and actual level of achievement while controlling for regression and age effects. AU was associated with both ADHD and CD when the disorders were examined individually. However, when examined in multivariate logit model analyses, the apparent relation between CD and AU was found to be due to its comorbidity with ADHD. When boys with ADHD were divided into those with attention deficits only and those with co-occurring hyperactivity, findings did not support the hypothesis that the association with AU is stronger for attention deficits without co-occurring hyperactivity.

Achievement↗