L’Encéphale, 2004 ; XXX : 369-75 369 PSYCHOPATHOLOGIE Évaluation des traits caractéristiques de la psychopathie chez les adolescents délinquants N. ATARHOUCH (1) , E. HOFFMANN (1) , S. ADAM (2) , J. TITECA (1) , E. STILLEMANS (1) , P. FOSSION (3) , O. LE BON (3) , L. SERVAIS (1) (1) Centre Hospitalier Jean Titeca, rue de la Luzerne, 11, 1030 Bruxelles. (2) Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Charleroi, rue de l’Hôpital, Marchienne au pont. (3) Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Brugmann, place Van Gehuchtem, 4, 1020 Bruxelles. Travail reçu le 10 mars 2003 et accepté le 8 juillet 2003. Tirés à part : N. Atarhouch, E. Hoffmann (à l’adresse ci-dessus). Résumé. L’objectif est ici d’évaluer dans quelle mesure des traits reconnus comme caractéristiques de la psychopathie se retrouvent chez des adolescents délinquants multirécidivistes, et de comparer les traits de personnalité de ces adolescents avec une population contrôle. Un groupe d’adolescents placés en Institution publique de protection de la jeunesse répondant aux critères diagnostiques du trouble des conduites (n = 47) a complété le Temperament and Character Inventory-TCI, outil dimensionnel évaluant 7 dimensions de personnalité. Les ana- lyses statistiques montrent des différences significatives (p < 0,0001) pour les facteurs TCI2, TCI3 et TCI6. La triade psy- chopathique n’est que partiellement retrouvée : évitement du danger et dépendance à la récompense bas. En revanche, la recherche de nouveauté n’est pas plus élevée. La coopération se démarque également. Mots clés : Délinquance juvénile ; Psychopathie ; TCI. Evaluation of typical psychopathic traits with juvenile offenders Summary. The concept of psychopathy has received many def- initions for the first days of psychiatry. Recently, the Hare’s Psy- chopathy Check List Revised has been created. This scale has the advantage to investigate the classically characteristic traits of the syndrome (need of stimulation, lack of culpability, super- ficial activity, lack of empathy, impassivity) and to point out the early development of behavior disturbances. In the American classification (DSM IV), oppositional and aggressive behavior in child and adolescent is grouped under the Conduct Disorder diagnostic criteria. This trouble appears to be a strong predictive factor of psychopathy in adult. Identifying the high risk factors of evolution to psychopathic personality would allow an earlier intervention and prevention by multisystemic interventions for example. The present study aims to evaluate in what measure characteristic traits of psychopathy in adults are present in severe juvenile offenders and to point out, in a second time, the differences between adolescents meeting the DSM IV criteria for Conduct Disorder and a control population by a dimensional personality inventory. Method – The sample consists in 47 severe juvenile offenders referred for at least 3 months by a Youth Court to a Public Institution for Youth Protection (Belgium, Wauthier-Braine, 1999-2001), who have given an oral content- ment and completely fulfilled the Temperament and Character Inventory-TCI. We have collected data about : schooling year by year, number of fails, changes of school ; antecedents of oppositional defiant disorder with provocation (ODD, DSM IV criteria) ; antecedent of Conduct Disorder (CD, DSM IV criteria) ; penal antecedents (Youth Judge, works of general interest, placements) ; medico-psychological antecedents (consultation to a psychologist or a psychiatrist, hospitalization, illness, surgi- cal intervention) ; psychoactive drug use or abuse. We used the TCI - Temperament and Character Inventory. This is a dimen- sional personality inventory. Based on biological, genetic and clinical hypothesis, it describes 2 types of variables defining personality : Variables of temperament (genetically transmitted and biologically controlled), and Variables of character (learned part of the personality reflecting the degree of adaptation and maturity, varying with environment through development). We have chosen this tool because of its dimensional aspect. Adolescence being a time of psychological and personality changes, such a tool is more useful than a categorical one. We also used this tool to verify the existence of the specific triad described by Cloninger and Svrakic. According to these authors, psychopathic personality in adult is characterized by a specific triad in which novelty seeking is high while harm avoidance and reward dependence are low. These observations are highly cor- related to Hare’s definition of psychopathy. We give the principal scores for the 7 personality dimensions expressed in global scores (total of the items for each dimension) and pondered ones (global scores divided by the number of items of the dimension 100). Results – Statistical analysis was performed with the Stateview 5.0 t-test program for data analysis. Statistical results show the absence of a statistically significant difference between