Knorre, Zoe L. (2015) Temporal Stability of Psychopathic Traits From Adolescence into Adulthood: A Systematic Review. Coursework Masters thesis, University of Southern Queensland. (Unpublished)
Abstract
This study provides a comprehensive review of all published and unpublished iii literature, which has examined the temporal stability of psychopathic personality from adolescence into adulthood. The construct of psychopathic personality is currently defined by a cluster of affective, interpersonal, behavioural difficulties. However, the affective features are generally defined as the core characteristics of psychopathic personality. There has been considerable debate surrounding the downward extension of psychopathic personality into adolescence. The inherent difficulties of mapping an adult pathology onto an adolescent psychology is problematical for the following reasons: (1) normative adolescent traits may mirror some traits of psychopathic personality (e.g., impulsivity), (2) the transient nature of pathology in adolescence makes personality diagnosis unreliable, (3) prevalence rates have not been determined in adolescent populations, and (4) some previous research has found psychopathic personality to be unstable across the developmental period. Despite these concerns, the research construct of adolescent psychopathic personality has found a place in clinical practice and forensic proceedings. It was hypothesised that a synthesis of the extant literature would find that individual factors of psychopathic personality would be unstable across the period from adolescence into adulthood. A systematic review of the available research found the affective factor to have only weak to moderate stability, suggesting that the affective traits characteristic of psychopathy are not stable over the developmental period. In contrast, traits comprising the antisocial factor appear moderate to highly stable across the adolescent developmental period, and into adulthood. These results suggest that while the total score of adolescent psychopathic trait measures has at times been found to be moderately stable into adulthood, there is weaker stability with a declining trend for the core characteristic of psychopathic personality. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed including the issues surrounding the validity of measuring the construct of psychopathic personality in adolescence and the ethical and developmental ramifications of applying a label of 'psychopath' in adolescence.
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| Item Type: | Thesis (Non-Research) (Coursework Masters) |
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| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Current UniSQ staff and students can request access to this thesis. Please email research.repository@unisq.edu.au with a subject line of SEAR thesis request and provide: Name of the thesis requested and Your name and UniSQ email address |
| Faculty/School / Institute/Centre: | Historic - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - School of Psychology and Counselling (1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2021) |
| Supervisors: | Suzanne Czech |
| Qualification: | Master of Psychology (Clinical) |
| Date Deposited: | 25 Aug 2025 04:33 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Aug 2025 04:33 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | psychopathic personality ; adolescence into adulthood ; developmental period ; validity of measuring ; ethical and developmental ramifications |
| Fields of Research (2008): | 17 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 1799 Other Psychology and Cognitive Sciences > 179999 Psychology and Cognitive Sciences not elsewhere classified |
| Fields of Research (2020): | 52 PSYCHOLOGY > 5299 Other psychology > 529999 Other psychology not elsewhere classified |
| URI: | https://sear.unisq.edu.au/id/eprint/52474 |
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