Application: Assessing Juveniles for Psychopathy or Conduct Disorder - Essay Example

Conduct disorder can be recognized through different behaviors. These behaviors include frequent bad temper, disobedience and acts like rape, violence and theft. Conduct disorder in adults can be described as variation of criminals. But in case of children and adolescents it’s not the same. In most cases adolescents are not hardened and professional criminals. In case of juveniles the conduct disorder and anti social behavior light help us understand the reason behind the psychopathy. Conduct disorder varies in different dimensions.

It can be mild to severe. Teenage years or youth is a period of huge developmental change. The adult markers of psychopathy are sometimes not applicable to youth. Professionals use somewhat modified adult assessment tools to identify psychopathy in Juveniles. Some of the characteristics that might define a psychopath Juvenile are thrill seeking, low self control and Proneness to boredom. Two traits that are common in adult and incorrect administration or interpretation can have serious consequences for the subject.

Assessment is impulsivity and stimulation. Research has shown that normally these two traits are stable from childhood to mid-adolescence. The two characteristics increase in the teen years. They decline in adulthood. The reason is that generally Juveniles have limited vision and perspective as compared to adults. The Juveniles lack of goal and responsibility can also cause problems. Normally young people have limited sense of consequences which results in lack of sympathy, coldness and failure to act responsibility.

As many of these characteristics are normal and usually passes away with age, it might be a mistake to mark them with absolute character. Assessment tools are helpful in predicting short-term results in anti social youth. In case of long term analytical validity of these measures remains untested in youth. Researchers are trying to review what role these character may or may not play in the assessment of psychopathy among young people (Thomas, 1922). There are 3 ways to determine psychopaths in Juvenile.

First one is the Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PCL:YV). Second is the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), and the last one is NEO Personality Inventory – Short Form (NEO PI-R). Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version (PCL:YV) The Hare Psyhcopathy assessment tool was designed by Robert D. It is also known as Psychopathy Checklist, Revised (PCL-R). It is the most famous and widely used Psycopathy assessment tool. It is used for assessment an individual's psychopathic traits. The Psychopathy Checklist consists of a 20-item sign rating scale.

 Each of the items is scored on a three-point scale 0, 1 and 2. 0 is assigned if the item is not valid, 1 is assigned if item applies to some extent, and 2 is assigned if is 100 % valid. It should be rated by a professional (Cooke, 1998). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist Youth Version assessment helps identify possible patterns of anti social acts like bullying, fighting, cheating, and other unsocial behaviors in youth. The early recognition of these traits can be helpful for their development and future.

This assessment helps in recognizing the factors that lead to Psychopathy and anti social behavior. A person who is using PCL-R to determine future risk should be properly trained and professional. He should be up to date with studies of Psychopathy. Inadequate administration or interpretation