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Trajectories of Alcohol and Marijuana Use Among Primary Versus Secondary Psychopathy Variants Within an Adjudicated Adolescent Male Sample

NCJ Number
252912
Journal
Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment Dated: 2018
Author(s)
R. Waller; B. M. Hicks
Date Published
2018
Length
10 pages
Annotation
This study used a prospective longitudinal approach to examine whether primary versus secondary psychopathy variants have different rates of alcohol and marijuana use across adolescence, and what mechanisms account for these differences.
Abstract
The sample consisted of 1,170 male adolescents who had interacted with the justice system, with data collected as part of the Pathways to Desistance project. Interviewer assessments of psychopathy and self-reported anxiety at baseline were conducted to identify primary and secondary psychopathy subgroups. Subgroup differences were determined through self-reported measures of psychopathic traits and anxiety, aggression, depression, and posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms at baseline and a 6-month follow-up. Finally, the study tested whether groups had different trajectories of alcohol and marijuana use over 4 years, and whether poor impulse control or anxiety mediated these differences. Latent profile analysis identified four groups: low-anxious primary psychopathy, high-anxious secondary psychopathy, anxious only, and low risk. The secondary group had similar levels of aggression and psychopathy to the primary group, but more depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress symptoms. The primary and secondary psychopathy variants did not differ in rates of alcohol or marijuana use across adolescence, but alcohol use among secondary variants was specifically mediated via poor impulse control. The findings establish two psychopathy groups that differ meaningfully in their internalizing psychopathology and pathways to alcohol use. 4 figures and 52 references (publisher abstract modified)