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Original Article

The Child Problematic Traits Inventory in a Dutch General Population Sample of 3- to 7-Year-Old Children

Published Online:August 03, 2016https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000347

Abstract

Abstract. The Child Problematic Traits Inventory (CPTI) is a new teacher rated instrument to assess psychopathic personality traits in children. This is the first study to test the psychometric properties of the Dutch CPTI. Teachers completed the CPTI for 287 3- to 7-year old-children. Results from confirmatory factor analysis supported the proposed 3-factor structure of the CPTI. The CPTI total score and three factor scores were internally consistent and showed the expected correlations with external criterion measures that have been linked to psychopathic personality, including conduct problems, proactive and reactive aggression, and temperament. This study also provides novel evidence that CPTI factor scores were positively related to an alternative measure of callous-unemotional traits, thereby supporting the criterion validity of the CPTI scores. In conclusion, this study replicates and extends prior tests of the CPTI in Sweden and suggests that the Dutch version of the CPTI holds promise as a teacher rated tool for assessing psychopathic traits in childhood.

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