Psychopathy in Childhood: Toward Better Informing the DSM-5 and ICD-11 Conduct Disorder Specifiers

Callous unemotional traits have been incorporated into the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5) and are being considered for the International Classification of Diseases 11th Revision (ICD-11). Despite the centrality of callous-unemotional (CU) traits it is only 1 of 3 dimensions of child psychopathy. It is proposed that the grandiose-manipulative (GM) and daring-impulsive (DI) traits also be considered and potentially incorporated as specifiers for conduct disorder (CD) in future versions of the DSM and ICD. Such an addition would make a larger contribution to our understanding of youth with CD allowing clinicians to better describe and treat individuals with conduct problems (CP). However, before such specifiers are adopted, future research is needed to test the proposed specifiers interaction with CD.