ABSTRACT
Deficits in empathy have long featured in clinical descriptions of antisocial behavior in children; however, these deficits and their contribution to antisocial behavior have proven difficult to characterize empirically. We argue that the construct of psychopathy—most commonly applied to adult populations of antisocial offenders—provides a useful framework with which to reexamine the construct of empathy as it relates to conduct problems in childhood. Drawing on a program of research by the authors, we examine issues of measurement relevant to this line of research and discuss recent data on the relationships between distinct components of empathy (cognitive and affective) and callous-unemotional (or psychopathic) traits across the child and adolescent years. Findings suggest that males with high levels of antisocial behavior and callous-unemotional traits show consistent deficits in affective empathy across childhood and adolescence, while females show no such relationship. Findings also suggest that cognitive empathy may be more impaired in these males than previously thought, albeit at younger ages only; by early adolescence this deficit appears to be largely overcome. It seems then that the characteristic disconnect between cognitive and affective empathy seen in adult males with psychopathy may crystallize during the pubertal years.
