Fledgling psychopathy in the classroom: Adhd subtypes, psychopathy, and reading comprehension in a community sample of adolescents

Abstract

The current study explores characteristics that are associated with fledgling psychopathy and educational outcomes relating to reading comprehension performance in a community sample of 432 middle school students. Latent class analysis (LCA) produced a four-class solution. Class 1 was a large (71.5% of sample) "control" group of youths with no attention/hyperactivity deficits and the highest reading comprehension scores. Class 2 was 11.6% of the sample and was consistent with traits associated with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) predominantly inattentive type. Class 3 was 7.4% of the sample and was consistent with traits associated with ADHD predominantly hyperactive-impulsive type. Class 4 was 9.5% of the sample and was consistent with traits associated with ADHD combined type. Classes 2 and 4 were characterized by elevated levels of psychopathic and callous-unemotional (CU) traits and lower educational performance. This study extends the utility of fledgling psychopathy to educational outcomes, which has broad implications for adolescent development, delinquency, and youth violence. © The Author(s) 2011.