The best person to ask would be a doctor or psychologist, of which I am neither. I will, however, comment on the few relevant details I do know.

Firstly, psychopaths and sociopaths are not the same thing. Mostly neither category goes out of their way to harm others, however a psychopath is far more likely to do so. I assume you have some basic knowledge of the condition, so I trust I do not need to explain why. Killing animals is considered to be an indication that the child is a psychopath, but it is in no way linked to being a sociopath.

Both are very hard to accurately diagnose as they are spectrums. Much like the autistic spectrum, every human on the planet sits somewhere on it, so it's simply a case of figuring out where on that spectrum one becomes a psychopath.

Some indicators of being a psychopath are: lack of empathy for others, lack of understanding of others emotions, little to no comprehension of right or wrong, the ability to keep calm in situations that others would find distressing (such as being in the presence of a dead body) etc.

The problem is, a child could have all of these traits and not be a psychopath. It is considered that some of the most successful people in the world are psychopaths, as the ruthlessness, charm and calm attitude tends to make them perfect for cutting people down as they climb the corporate ladder.

As far as I know, there is no difference between a sociopath and a psychopath. Sociopath is just an older term. If anyone thinks there is a real difference please let me know, and let me know your source so I can look into it.

Thanks.

Also, neither are "official" personality disorders. They are technically legal terms, not diagnoses. They come from Hare's psychopathy checklist, (PCL) not DSM.

The official diagnosis is closest to anti-social PD with some narcissitic PD. In children the precursor diagnosis is likely to be "conduct disorder."

Please disregard the second paragraph in my first post, having researched following NYNM's post I can confirm that I was incorrect. It would be helpful if there was an edit button as I do not want to spread false information.

The supposed difference between the two has been and continues to be debated, but there is no official difference.

The subsequent three paragraphs should be correct (save replace the work 'diagnose' with 'classify').

Before the media grabbed the term and sensationalized it, the term psychopath meant someone INCAPABLE of feeling emotions. Some studies suggest it has a physical cause in the brain. These people are difficult or impossible to socialize because they feel no fear, shame, joy or anything else. This does not necessarily mean they are or will become violent, but it is quite true that many infamous criminals had this condition.

I hope this helps a little.

I think the issue is WHY you are researching these conditions.

If you describe the behaviors, maybe we can shed some light.

I will say this- I am VERY perceptive. I taught middle school for 13 years (I'm now at a high school). I could dx kids LONG before they were referred to the school psych. Nobody ever believed me. But two years later, they'd have an IEP for what I was saying two years before.

Having said that, here's what I'd pick up on that would set off my "tweaked" alarm:

Messy hair and body odor- poor hygiene and lack of self care

Same clothes- obsessive about a certain outfit

Perseveration on a topic or item- fixation/obsession about it

Handwriting- very scrawly with hard strokes; lines don't match up and loops don't fully close.

Doodling- infantile drawings, stick men beyond age five, angry faces OR smiley faces when not appropriate and lots of violence.

Odd facial contortions/tics- things like furrowing the eyebrows, licking lips until chapped.

Disproportional reaction to denial of perceived needs. gets upset that they didn't get the red crayon, or cookie.

Take cues from the teachers. They see you kid in more circumstances/situation than you do.

The three major warning signs that a person might be a psychopath are: a) they enjoy harming other people. b) they enjoy harming animals. c) they enjoy setting fires. A diagnosis for teens who are doing these things and are found to be psychopaths by competant medical professionals is Conduct Disorder. If Conduct disorder is diagnosed in children or teens there is a good chance of recovery for them. I presume that parental authority plays a role here, unlike adult psychopaths who are no longer under parental authority. Dropping rocks from an overpass onto the road below can be signs of conduct disorder in kids if they want to see if the rocks do damage to moving vehicules below. Since this can be their idea of fun it would appear to show a lack of normal empathy in such children. A lack of normal empathy for those in distress or wanting to cause distress in some extreme way could be signs of conduct disorder. I hope this helps.

one more thing. There are twenty(20) traits that define a person as possibly having conduct disorder, in the case of children. They are found in the "Hare Psychopathy Check List" created by Dr Hare who has done a fair bit of research into psychopathy. See if you can get it on the internet by an internet search. It is "the gold standard" used worldwide to diagnose for psychopathy. The DSM used today was created years ago because some psychiatrists believed that the average medical clinician would not be able to recognise symptoms, such as lack or empathy, lack of remorse, and that pertaining to lacking a normal sense of guilt for the wrongful acts they committed. Best to go and find the Hare Psychopathy Check List and go through the twenty traits listed. Then see a competant medical professional if worried.

Just to be precise:
CD has 15 criteria (DSM5)
Psychopathy has 20 criteria (HPCL)

CD is a psychiatric diagnosis
Psychopathy is a research and legal term

CD is not necessarily a term that indicates possible recovery. While there may be recovery (episodic vs. life course persistent) this is not why it is used.

It is recommended that interpretation of the Hare checklist be left to trained professionals. Scoring is partly complex, and harm has been done to some indiividuals when "labelled" by those who are not qualified.

Re: OP. There are many articles about child/teen psychopathy, but they are not found as DSM disorders (ODD, CD, etc.)

Oh, and violence is not necessarily related to psychopathy. There are violent psychopaths and non-violent psychopaths.