Is there a meaningful subgroup of youths displaying both psychopathic traits and ADHD?

Abstract: In this study, we examined subgroups of adolescents based on their levels of psychopathic traits and ADHD symptoms. Participants were 982 adolescents from a community sample, with a mean age of 14.28 (SD= .94) years. We used youths’ self-reports of psychopathic traits and their legal guardians’ reports of the adolescent’s ADHD symptoms to identify distinct subgroups of youths. We identified four groups that varied in levels of psychopathic traits and ADHD by using the Hierarchical clustering analysis. One group was characterized by high levels of psychopathic traits and high levels of ADHD (high combination group). The subgroups differed significantly from each other in several theoretically meaningful ways. The high combination group reported higher levels of psychopathic traits, impulsivity and hyperactivity, as well as higher levels on external variables such as aggression, delinquency and violence compared to the other subgroups. The high combination group also differed in terms of anxiety levels from the subgroup with high psychopathic traits only. These findings are in line with previous research and confirms that the construct of psychopathy is heterogenous. We identified an especially vulnerable subgroup that resembles the characteristics of the secondary psychopath.