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07-12-2024

A Multi-Dimensional, Multi-Informant Examination of Adolescent Psychopathy and its Links to Parental Monitoring: The Moderating Role of Resting Arousal

Authors: Nicholas A. Bellamy, Randall T. Salekin, Sarah J. Racz, Andres De Los Reyes

Abstract

Recent work indicates clinically meaningful differences in domains of psychopathic personality – such as grandiose-manipulative (GM), callous-unemotional (CU), and daring-impulsive (DI) traits – and parenting factors. Yet, different domains of parenting and reports from multiple informants may vary in their associations to psychopathic traits. This study examined psychopathic traits and their links with parental monitoring behaviors, parental knowledge, and adolescent disclosure. Further, we evaluated whether adolescents’ self-reported resting arousal moderated these associations. A mixed clinic-referred/community sample of 134 adolescent-parent dyads (M_age = 14.49; SD = 0.50; 66.4% female) completed multi-dimensional measures of psychopathy, parental monitoring behaviors, parental knowledge, and adolescent disclosure; adolescents also self-reported on their resting arousal. Results indicated links between: (a) increased parent-reported GM traits and decreased parent-reported parental knowledge, and (b) increased parent-reported DI traits and lower parent-reported monitoring behaviors, which were attenuated at high levels of adolescent-reported resting arousal. Associations between elevated dimensions of psychopathic traits and lower levels of parental monitoring behaviors, parental knowledge, and adolescent disclosure were most consistent within-informants, with some cross-informant associations identified for links between elevated GM and DI and lower levels of parental monitoring behaviors and parental knowledge. These findings have important implications for our understanding of how to assess and prevent psychopathy and associated externalizing problems, and suggest that targeting modifiable environmental and psychophysiological factors may be particularly important.

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For the “clinic-referred” group, parents self-selected to have their adolescents participate in the study if they had concerns about their adolescents’ social anxiety, and did not necessarily mean that the adolescents in this group met clinical criteria or cut-offs for a diagnosis of social anxiety.

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Title: A Multi-Dimensional, Multi-Informant Examination of Adolescent Psychopathy and its Links to Parental Monitoring: The Moderating Role of Resting Arousal
Authors: Nicholas A. Bellamy
Randall T. Salekin
Sarah J. Racz
Andres De Los Reyes
Publication date: 07-12-2024
Publisher: Springer US
Published in: Prevention Science
Print ISSN: 1389-4986
Electronic ISSN: 1573-6695
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-024-01753-z

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A Multi-Dimensional, Multi-Informant Examination of Adolescent Psychopathy and its Links to Parental Monitoring: The Moderating Role of Resting Arousal

Abstract

Podcast | Sexual health in older age

Springer Medicine

Abstract

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