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The idea that very young children can manifest a constellation of personality traits that looks like psychopathy has rarely been explored. To fill this void, data from 2,247 children, aged 3–6 years (M = 4.25; SD = 0.91), from the Estudio Longitudinal para una Infancia Saludable (ELISA) were utilized. Parents and teachers completed questionnaires at baseline and at 1-year follow-up. Using three parent-rated psychopathy dimensions as indicators, the authors conducted latent profile analysis and arrived at five latent classes: Control (39.2%), Impulsive-Need for Stimulation (34.8%), Grandiose-Deceitful (16.5%), Callous-Unemotional (6.2%), and Putative Psychopathic Personality (PP, 3.3%). Children in the PP class, overall, engaged in higher levels of concurrent, future, and stable conduct problems and reactive and proactive aggression, and lower levels of prosocial behavior, as rated by parents or teachers. Findings also revealed meaningful differences between the remaining four classes. Person-oriented analyses seem to offer a fruitful avenue to identify 3-to 6-year-olds who exhibit a putative psychopathic personality and are at risk for future maladjustment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the study was to examine the association between avoidant personality traits and motor impairment in childhood. The relationship between other personality traits and motor function was also explored. A population-based screened sample of 150 11-12-year-old children (50 socially anxious, 50 impulsive and 50 nonsocially anxious/nonimpulsive) was assessed using the Coolidge Personality and Neuropsychological Inventory for Children (CPNI) and the Motor Assessment Battery for Children (MABC). Among the personality scales, avoidant personality traits were most strongly associated with motor impairment. Children with clinically avoidant personality traits (n = 31) showed a significantly poorer motor performance than children in the nonclinical avoidance group (n = 119). About 50% of the children with clinical avoidance obtained a motor score below the 5th percentile. No gender differences in motor performance were found in the clinical avoidance group. More research on the impact of motor impairment on psychological development is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this article is to provide a commentary on the reports of the findings from the longitudinal Children in the Community (CIC) study by Cohen, Crawford, Johnson, and Kasen (this issue), Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS) by Skodol et al. (this issue), and McLean Study of Adult Development (MSAD) by Zanarini, Frankenburg, Hennen, Reich, and Silk (this issue). This article focuses in particular on the implications of their longitudinal findings with regard to a fundamental component of personality disorder: temporal stability. Also discussed are their findings with regard to an integration of general personality structure with personality disorder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Children in the Community (CIC) Study (Cohen, Crawford, Johnson, & Kasen, this issue), the McLean Study of Adult Development (MSAD, Zanarini, Frankenburg, Hennen, Reich, & Silk, this issue), and the Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (CLPS, Skodol et al., this issue) are three large prospective studies on the course and outcome of psychiatric disorders, borderline personality disorder, and personality disorders, respectively. These studies, involving approximately 2,000 subjects, have yielded an enormous amount of scientifically and clinically relevant information. In this commentary, I primarily aim to discuss the implications for future revisions to the DSM classification of personality disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important progress in our understanding of the natural course of personality disorders (PDs) is documented in the articles for this special section. This progress could set the stage for ideas developed in the study of PDs to play a central role in research on psychopathology more broadly conceived. The Collaborative Longitudinal Personality Disorders Study (Skodol et al., this issue), the Children in the Community Study (Cohen, Crawford, Johnson, & Kasen, this issue), and the McLean Study of Adult Development (Zanarini, Frankenburg, Hennen, Reich, & Silk, this issue) reveal the importance of personality in under- standing psychopathology, and point toward a dimensional approach to conceptualizing psychopathology that could also frame categorical clinical decision making processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Children in the Community (CIC) Study is an ongoing investigation of the course of psychiatric disorders including personality disorders (PDs) in an epidemiological sample of about 800 youths. In addition to tracking developmental trajectories over 20 years from adolescence into adulthood, the CIC Study has used prospective data to investigate early risks for Axis II disorders and symptoms (including both environmental factors and early characteristics), implications of comorbidity with Axis II disorders, and associated negative prognostic risk of adolescent PDs into adulthood. The substantial independent impact of PD on subsequent Axis I disorders, suicide attempts, violent and criminal behavior, interpersonal conflict, and other problematic adult outcomes confirms the importance of attention to these problems when they manifest in early adolescence. The implications of study findings for potential changes in the DSM are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work on normal personality development in children and adolescents points to several conclusions that are relevant for understanding personality pathology. First, child temperament and adult personality traits share many features in common. Second, youths' individual differences can be described in terms of the Big Five personality traits observed in adults; an integrative taxonomy of individual differences in childhood and adolescence is articulated in this article. Third, personality is already moderately stable by the preschool years, but considerable personality change occurs well into the adult years. Taken together, these findings suggest that childhood personality functioning can and should be integrated into developmental research and applied work on personality disorders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a response from the author to the comments on his article "Childhood Risks for Young Adult Symptoms of Personality Disorder: Method and Substance." According to the author, once people move to the probable future dimensional identification of personality problems, it is likely to be easier to accept the development changes that normatively characterize these dimensions. No one expects infants to have good affective or executive control. The author noted that the developmental appropriateness of some behaviors in children and even adolescents that are clearly maladaptive in adults. The author appreciates the comments of researchers on the central importance of longitudinal data on clinical and general populations. The Children in the Community reported that the levels of stability over time have not consistently taken the reliability limits into account, and thus have understated what would be estimates of true score stability. Similarly, the author's work aggregating all personality disorder symptoms was not intended to deny significant factorial complexity in the full set of disorders, even as currently measured.