An article that caught my eye in the latest issue of Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice:
Although there has been intense interest in the application of the construct of psychopathy among juveniles, few studies have investigated psychopathic traits among adolescent females. To redress this, this study examines psychopathic features and tests their utility in predicting violent behavior, theft, and drug abuse in a statewide survey of 94 female juvenile offenders. Results indicate that interpersonal and affective facets of psychopathy, specifically narcissism and carefree nonplanfulness were significantly associated with violence and theft. Psychopathy features were not significantly associated with drug abuse. Study limitations and implications for future research are delineated.
I do like the term “carefree nonplanfulness”. It’s part of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory, which “is one of several self-report psychopathy
measures available for research purposes” (Long & Titone, 2007, p.124). Carefree nonplanfulness “measures the tendency to live in the moment and ignore the future”. But I do wonder what “careful nonplanfulness” might measure. Or “carefree planfulness”.
You can access the article on psychopathy among female juveniles via this link (subscription required for full text). Other articles in the same issue cover predictors of police contact among Midwestern homeless and runaway youth; implementing effective community-based prevention programs; classification of offenders; and the impact of reentry services on juvenile offenders’ recidivism .
Reference:
L. Stephen Long and Debra A. Titone (2007). Psychopathy and verbal emotion processing in non-incarcerated males [PDF]. Cognition and Emotion 21(1):119-145
Michael G. Vaughn, Christina E. Newhill, Matt DeLisi, Kevin M. Beaver and Matthew O. Howard (2008). An Investigation of Psychopathic Features Among Delinquent Girls:Violence, Theft, and Drug Abuse. Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice 6(3): 240-255 (Source: Psychology and Crime News)