Short report: self-reported psychopathic traits in Finnish and Dutch samples of non-referred adolescents: exploration of cultural differences

Svetlana Oshukova; Riittakerttu Kaltiala-Heino; Sanne Hillege; Corine de Ruiter; Grigori Joffe; Jouko Miettunen; Riikka Marttila; Mauri Marttunen; Matti Kaivosoja; Nina Lindberg

doi:10.1186/s13034-015-0090-3

Short report: self-reported psychopathic traits in Finnish and Dutch samples of non-referred adolescents: exploration of cultural differences

Child Adolesc Psychiatry Ment Health. 2016 Feb 8:10:3. doi: 10.1186/s13034-015-0090-3. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Psychiatry, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, P.O. Box 282, 00029 HUS, Helsinki Finland.
² School of Medicine, University of Tampere, 33014 Tampere, Finland ; Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Tampere University Hospital, 33380 Pitkäniemi, Finland.
³ Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, VU University Medical Centre, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
⁴ Faculty of Psychology and Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.
⁵ Research Unit of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Psychiatry, Oulu University and Oulu University Hospital, Oulu, Finland ; Medical Research Center Oulu, Oulu University Hospital and Oulu University, Oulu, Finland ; Center for Life Course Health Research, Oulu University, Oulu, Finland.
⁶ Adolescent Psychiatry, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, P.O. Box 590, 00029 HUS, Helsinki Finland ; Mental Health Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, P.O. Box 30, 00271 Helsinki, Finland.
⁷ Department of Child Psychiatry, Turku University, 20014 Turku, Finland ; Hospital District of Central Ostrobothnia, Mariankatu, 16-20, 67200 Kokkola, Finland.
⁸ Forensic Psychiatry, Helsinki University and Helsinki University Hospital, 04500 Kellokoski, Finland.

Abstract

Background: Culture-related differences in psychopathic traits have been reported for adults, but for adolescents such knowledge is lacking. The aim of this cross-national study was to compare self-reported psychopathic traits between Finnish and Dutch samples of mid-adolescent community youth.

Methods: The Youth Psychopathic traits Inventory (YPI) was filled in by 372 Finnish and 474 Dutch 15- to 16-year-old pupils. As gender-specific differences exist in psychopathic traits, we analyzed the data separately for boys and girls.

Results: Dutch boys scored significantly higher than Finnish boys on total and all dimensional scores of the YPI as well as on most sub-dimensional scores. Dutch girls scored significantly higher than Finnish girls on the Affective dimension and on the two corresponding sub-dimensions: remorselessness and callousness. Finnish girls scored significantly higher on grandiosity, which loads to the Interpersonal dimension of the YPI.

Conclusions: Our findings suggest that culture influences the manifestation of psychopathic traits already in adolescence and that this relation is more prominent in boys.

Keywords: Adolescents; Cultural differences; Psychopathic traits.