Resumen de Profile of male adolescents with conduct disorder on intellectual efficacy, cognitive flexibility, cognitive coping, impulsivity and alexithymia: A comparison with high-risk controls

S. Pihet, M. Suter, Olivier Halfon, P. Stephan

• Background and Objectives: To specify which of the documented cognitive and emotional deficits characterize adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) compared with high-risk controls.

  Methods: High-risk adolescent males with and without CD were compared on intellectual efficiency, cognitive flexibility, impulsivity, alexithymia, and cognitive coping strategies.

  Substance use was controlled for in analyses.

  Results: Both groups showed normal intellectual efficiency and cognitive flexibility, as well as heightened alexithymia and behavioral impulsivity. Youths with CD evidenced more self-defeating and black-and-white thinking under stress, and more acting-out under negative affect, than those without CD.

  Conclusions: Deficits specific to CD resided in facets of emotional functioning and cognitive coping that might be targeted by a coping skills intervention