*Corresponding author email: tracy@psych.ubc.ca Symbiosis Group Symbiosis www.symbiosisonline.org www.symbiosisonlinepublishing.com Outcomes Associated with Psychopathic Traits in a Non- Clinical Sample of Children Aged 6-13 Tracy G Cassels*, Susan AJ Birch Department of Psychology ,University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada SOJ Psychology Open Access Research Article problems and difficulties processing specific types of emotional situations or stimuli. Previous research suggests that some children show personality traits and behaviors similar to adults identified as psychopaths, extending the concept of psychopathy downwards and using an adult definition when examining younger children [6-7]. There are also reasons to believe that the factors associated with psychopathy are relatively stable across development. For example, the callous-unemotional traits of psychopathy are potentially noticeable as early as age three [8] and may have a genetic basis [9]. Research into the stability of callous- unemotional traits has found that levels of callous-unemotional traits are generally quite stable across childhood (examined as early as seven years of age) into adulthood [10-15], particularly for individuals with other concurrent diagnoses such as Conduct Disorder (e.g., [16]). Recently, Fontaine and colleagues identified four different trajectories for the presence of callous-unemotional traits from middle childhood to pre-adolescence [17]. Using a large twin dataset, the authors were able to determine that all four possible trajectories for these traits were found: stable-high, increasing, decreasing, or stable-low. The most common trajectory was stable-low (74.6% of the sample; 59.5% of which were girls) followed by decreasing (13.4%; 37.4% girls) then increasing (7.3%; 33.7% girls) and finally stable-high (4.7%; 19.5% girls). Although genetics accounted for group membership in most cases, environment played a larger role for some (particularly the stable-high females). The presence of both stable and changing trajectories and the mixed influence of genetics and environment highlights the need to better understand the role of these traits, and their outcomes, at an early age and in non-clinical samples (as some of the non-clinical children may reach clinical status with increasing levels of psychopathic traits). The results from [17] also suggest that ‘psychopathy’ or the presence of ‘psychopathic traits’ in childhood can be characterized as both dimensional and discrete. The dimensional view of psychopathy presupposes that there are meaningful individual differences both within those who reach clinical status and those that do not. For example, individuals rated as psychopathic by meeting a cutoff score will still show variability in the traits or Introduction Psychopathy has gained interest as a research topic in recent years due to the devastating effects it has on society and the frequent failure of traditional rehabilitation techniques. Psychopaths commit more crimes and a wider variety of crimes than other criminals, thereby placing a disproportionately large burden on society. Although only 20% of criminals are diagnosed with psychopathy, they commit approximately 50% of all serious crimes [1]. Psychopathy is reportedly comprised of callous-unemotional traits (e.g., low empathy), impulsive/ antisocial behavior, and interpersonal features (e.g., narcissism) [2,3]. However, the defining aspects of psychopathy are argued to be the presence of callous-unemotional traits and interpersonal features, with some individuals showing impulsive/antisocial behaviour while others are able to use controlled behaviour to achieve their ends [4]. One of the major features of psychopathy is a deficit in socialization [5] such that individuals with these traits (e.g., egotism, reduced guilt) tend to have greater interpersonal Abstract Childhood psychopathy is a construct that remains contentious for many researchers, as questions still arise about the merit of assessing these traits in younger individuals, particularly in non- clinical children. Much of the research on psychopathy in children has focused on clinical samples, whereas few studies have examined the outcomes associated with various levels of these so-called ‘psychopathic’ traits in young, non-clinical children. In the current study, we assessed 129 non-clinical, elementary-school-aged children on perspective-taking, social-emotional well-being, and psychopathic traits. No relationships were found between psychopathic traits and perspective-taking, yet individual differences in the components of psychopathy were associated with multiple aspects of social- emotional well-being, though these changed across development. Considered within the broader literature on psychopathic traits in childhood and adolescence, the results suggest that the construct of psychopathy and its relationships to various outcomes or abilities varies across development. Keywords: Psychopathy; Childhood; Perspective-taking; Social- emotional well-being; Community sample; Social outcomes; Prosocial behavior; Peer relationship problems; Emotion recognition Received: November 22, 2013; Accepted: January 30, 2014; Published: January 31, 2014 *Corresponding author: Tracy G Cassels, Department of Psychology, University of British Columbia, 2136 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4, Canada, E-mail: tracy@psych.ubc.ca