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Background Individuals with high psychopathy scores are capable of providing valid self-reports on their own personality traits, but there have been no empirical studies of the effect of psychopathic features on responding to sensitive survey questions about specific behaviours. Aims The aim of this study is to investigate any relationship between facets of psychopathy and participants' willingness to report antisocial acts in youth delinquency surveys, controlling for demographic variables known to be associated with response integrity. Methods In a nationally representative sample of 4,855 Finnish mainstream adolescents aged 15–16, honesty of responding was assessed through direct response integrity questions related to violence, property crime and drug use. Psychopathy was measured with the Antisocial Process Screening Device – Self Report (APSD-SR). Results Callous–unemotional traits and, to a lesser degree, narcissistic features were associated with a dishonest response style, although the effect size was modest. Conclusions Although psychopathy does not seem to influence the capability and willingness to report personality traits accurately, it may be associated with endorsing dishonest responses to questions about specific behaviours that have possible repercussions. Our findings suggest that previously observed associations between adolescents' self-reported delinquent behaviour and psychopathic traits may be underestimations of the strength of the effects. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Background: Depression has previously been found to be closely connected to adolescent delinquency, but little is known about how depression is related to different types of delinquency. Aim To investigate patterns of criminal behaviour according to depression among repeatedly delinquent adolescents. Method The sample was 14- to 16-year-old repeatedly delinquent adolescents (n 3679) taking part in the Finnish School Health Promotion Study, surveyed for versatility and specialization of delinquency in relation to depression. Results Patterns of criminal behaviour differed between depressed and non-depressed delinquent adolescents. The delinquent behaviour of depressed adolescents was more versatile than that of non-depressed adolescents who mainly specialized in one offence type. Non-depressed delinquent boys had most often specialized in violence. Most depressed delinquent boys had committed a variety of offences, but among those who did specialize the specialist category was violent offences. Non-depressed delinquent girls had specialized in shoplifting. Among depressed delinquent girls vandalism was the most typical offence. Conclusion: Differences in the delinquent behaviour of depressed and non-depressed delinquent adolescents suggest the value of including clinical assessment, and treatment for some, in an appropriately comprehensive pattern of management. Language: en