Conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits in adolescence: Social cognitive and personality features

Adolescents at risk of developing psychopathy are focused on their own needs and have very little concern for other people's welfare. To date, very little research has focussed on the social cognitive and personality factors that might contribute to the severe conduct problems, atypical affiliation, and impoverished social relationships in these individuals. A number of experimental paradigms can be used to investigate neurocognitive correlates of atypical social relationships in children at risk of developing psychopathy, compared with their typically developing peers, as well as peers with conduct problems but lower levels of callous-unemotional traits (indicating lower risk of developing psychopathy). These include: tasks assessing the extent to which a person uses social information; tasks assessing willingness to make effort for oneself vs others; tasks assessing ability to model others' minds and how this relates to perspective taking; and development and validation of a new personality measure for use with adolescent populations as well as its relationship with conduct problems and callous-unemotional traits in adolescence. Measures of psychiatric symptomatology, substance use and cognitive ability will be included for matching and covariate purposes