Citation

Salekin RT, Lee Z, Schrum Dillard CL, Kubak FA. Psychol. Public Policy Law 2010; 16(2): 158-176.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, University of Arizona College of Law and the University of Miami School of Law, Publisher American Psychological Association)

DOI

10.1037/a0019233

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Psychopathy in children and adolescents has received increased attention over the past decade. Researchers have been particularly interested in identifying who tomorrow's chronic and serious offenders might be. In addition, researchers have been increasingly interested in determining the etiology of the disorder so as to inform treatment programs. Despite this interest, few studies to date have investigated the protective factors for psychopathy in youth. The current study investigated 140 adolescent boys and girls and the potential protective mechanisms of intelligence and motivation to change. Findings indicated that motivation to change served as a protective factor for general and violent offending at varying levels of psychopathy. Motivation to change also served as a compensatory factor for psychopathy when examining high rates of violent offending. These findings suggest that the cognitive factor of motivation to change may very well be critical in examining developmental pathways to offending in youth and a key consideration for those youth scoring high on psychopathy scales and considering violence as a means of gain.