Is juvenile psychopathy associated with low anxiety and fear in conduct-disordered male offenders?

Although the traditional conceptualization of psychopathy suggests that this construct is negatively associated with anxiety the literature has produced mixed findings. The present study examined the relationship between self-report measures of anxiety/fear and psychopathy assessed using the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version in 110 adolescent male offenders with conduct disorder. In line with the literature in children, we found that measures of anxiety and fearfulness exhibited differential associations with different elements of psychopathy. Specifically, we found that trait anxiety was negatively correlated with the affective components of the psychopathy construct and that fearfulness was negatively correlated with the more antisocial components of the construct. The findings are discussed in the context of growing literature on psychopathy assessment in younger cohorts.