Abstract

The present study aims to determine the correlation between Limited Prosocial Emotions (LPE) specifier for disruptive behavior disorders and the cognitive and affective subtypes of Empathy in a clinical population of adolescents in Mexico City. Sample was integrated with 49 participants between 13 and 18 years old from the Clínica de Adolescentes, an outpatient service of the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente Muñiz. All adolescents included, received LPE specifier diagnosed by certified psychiatrist using a categorical and dimensional instrument. The Global Empathy Scale parent/tutor and self-report versions were used to evaluate cognitive and affective empathy subtypes. The results showed an inversely correlation (r=-0.54, p<0.05) between the severity of LPE specifier dimensional evaluation and the global empathy in male and female population. Male population showed lowest affective than cognitive empathy functioning, particularly with the LPE specifier categorical instrument (X2=5.78, p<0.05). This research demonstrated that male and female adolescent population with LPE specifier presented an altered global empathetic functioning. Categorical and dimensional of LPE specifier establishment may be complementary in adolescent clinical population.

Keywords: Limited prosocial emotions; Dimensional categorical diagnosis; Cognitive empathy; Affective empathy

Abbreviations: LPE: Limited Prosocial Emotions, KSADS-PL 5.1: Kiddie Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia Present and Lifetime Version 5.1, ICU: Inventory of Callous Unemotional, GES: Global Empathy Scale, CD: Conduct Disorder, ODD: Oppositional Defiant Disorder