The inclusion of psychopathic personality in the developmental study of child and youth conduct problems has gained increasing interest during the last decades, favoring the identification of a serious pattern of problematic behavior. Most researchers have agreed in defining psychopathic personality as a constellation of co-occurring affective (callousness, lack of remorse and empathy), interpersonal (narcissism, manipulation) and behavioral (impulsivity, need of stimulation) traits. However callous-unemotional (CU) traits, representing the affective dimension of the construct, have emerged as the key facet when studying serious conduct problems, leading to the inclusion of a new specifier (“with low prosocial emotions”; LPE) for conduct disorder in DSM-5. Even considering the ever-increasing interest in CU traits, some authors defend that they are not enough for identifying a high-risk profile and, therefore, are claiming for the inclusion of the broad array of psychopathic traits in the study of disruptive behavior. Based on the foregoing, this symposium will focus on testing two competing models (CU traits vs. Psychopathic personality) in both a large sample of Spanish preschoolers aged 3 to 5 (Presentations 1 and 2), and a sample of young male offenders aged 15 to 22 (Presentations 3 and 4). Presentation 1 will focus on the role of CU traits in predicting conduct problems in preschoolers, whereas Presentation 2 will go beyond the CU conceptualization by testing the usefulness of the psychopathic construct in identifying a high-risk group of problematic children. Presentation 3 will examine both aggression and antisocial behavior in a sample of young offenders who met criteria for the LPE specifier, while Presentation 4 will test how all psychopathic traits are indicative of risk in antisocial youths. Altogether, these complementary findings will shed new light as regards the psychopathic conceptualization and it usefulness in young populations, leading to open new means of discussion and analysis in this field.

Laura Lopez-Romero holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology and Psychobiology from the University of Santiago de Compostela, and she is researcher at the Research Unit on Prevention and Treatment of Behavior Problems (UDIPRE). Her research is focused on the study of behavioral problems from the perspective of developmental psychopathology and individual differences, with emphasis on the identification of evolutionary trajectories from childhood to adolescence, taking into account the influence of several individual and contextual factors. Within these factors, there are personality variables such as type traits psychopathic (emotional hardness, narcissism, impulsivity) and the role of family variables, in particular, the styles and parental educational practices. This research has led to important scientific production, with articles published in journals of national and international impact, most of which have focused on the development of behavior problems and psychopathic personality in childhood and adolescence. She has presented more than 40 papers at numerous conferences organized by societies of national and international importance (ISSID, EFCAP, ECP, AITANA, SEIC). Sha has also participated in several projects funded by public announcements at regional and national levels. She is currently developing part of her research work on the project "Development patterns of behavior problems in childhood: Towards a preventive intervention in a high-risk profile," which starts the project ELISA (Longitudinal Study for a healthy childhood). She has received the Young Researcher Award 2011 by the Spanish Society of Criminological Research. She is a reviewer of scientific papers for journals such as Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, Child Psychiatry and Human Development, Journal of Forensic Psychiatry and Psychology, o The Spanish Journal of Psychology.