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Childhood psychopathic traits and mental health outcomes in adolescence: compensatory and protective effects of positive relationships with parents and teachers

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Abstract

We identified mental health outcomes associated with specific developmental trajectories of psychopathic traits across childhood and tested whether positive relationships with parents and teachers have compensatory or protective effects. Participants were 1401 children (52.82% girls) from the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development with available data on teacher-reported psychopathic traits (ages 6–12 years) and self-reported mental health outcomes (ages 15–17 years). Parents and teachers reported their levels of positive relationship with the child (ages 6–8 and 10–12 years). Trajectories of psychopathic traits (High-stable, Increasing, Decreasing, and Low-stable) were included as predictors of mental health outcomes (e.g., conduct disorder, anxiety) in structural equation models controlling for child sex, family SES, and earlier psychopathology. Compensatory effects were tested via main effects of positive relationships and protective effects were tested via their interactive effects with trajectories memberships. When compared to the Low-stable trajectory of psychopathic traits, the High-stable, Increasing, and Decreasing trajectories were associated with distinct sets of mental health outcomes, with children from the Increasing trajectory being at higher risk for both externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Positive relationships with parents and teachers only partially compensated for these effects. Findings suggest that clinicians cannot expect the detrimental effects associated with psychopathic traits to be entirely prevented by children’s positive relationships with parents and/or teachers. This study reinforces the importance of providing intensive preventive interventions to elementary school children with high levels of psychopathic traits to prevent the long-term negative consequences associated with these traits.

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Notes

  1. Ordinal alphas are provided throughout the article as they provide a more accurate estimation of internal consistency with ordinal items [34].

  2. Entropy of the retained model was high (0.87) and suggested clear classification of participants across trajectory groups.

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Funding

This work, as part of the Quebec Longitudinal Study of Child Development (QLSCD), was supported by the Québec Government’s Ministry of Health and Ministry of Family Affaires, the Lucie and André Chagnon Foundation, the Quebec Research Funds—Society & Culture, the Quebec Research Funds—Health, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. Vincent Bégin received a postdoctoral fellowship from the Quebec Research Funds—Society & Culture.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Criminology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Vincent Bégin & Nathalie M. G. Fontaine

  2. Research Unit On Children’s Psychosocial Maladjustment, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

    Vincent Bégin, Nathalie M. G. Fontaine, Frank Vitaro, Michel Boivin, Richard E. Tremblay & Sylvana M. Côté

  3. School of Psychoeducation, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Frank Vitaro

  4. School of Psychology, Laval University, Quebec, Canada

    Michel Boivin

  5. Department of Psychology, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Richard E. Tremblay

  6. Department of Pediatrics, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Richard E. Tremblay

  7. School of Public Health, Physiotherapy and Population Science, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland

    Richard E. Tremblay

  8. School of Public Health, University of Montreal, Montreal, Canada

    Sylvana M. Côté

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  1. Vincent Bégin
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  2. Nathalie M. G. Fontaine
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  3. Frank Vitaro
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  6. Sylvana M. Côté
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Correspondence to Vincent Bégin.

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The authors assert that all procedures contributing to this work comply with the ethical standards of the relevant national and institutional committees on human experimentation and with the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2008.

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Bégin, V., Fontaine, N.M.G., Vitaro, F. et al. Childhood psychopathic traits and mental health outcomes in adolescence: compensatory and protective effects of positive relationships with parents and teachers. Eur Child Adolesc Psychiatry 32, 1403–1413 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00787-022-01955-2

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