The content validity of juvenile psychopathy: an empirical examination

This study examined the content validity of a juvenile psychopathy measure, the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (CPS; D. R. Lynam, 1997), based on a downward translation of an adult instrument, the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991). The CPS was compared with two other indices of juvenile psychopathy: (a) an index derived from expert ratings and (b) an empirical index based on correlations with adult psychopathy. The 100 items of the Common Language Q-Sort (CLQ; A. Caspi et al., 1992) provided a common metric for the comparison. Psychopathy and personality were assessed at age 13 years with the mother-reported CPS and the CLQ. Psychopathy was assessed at age 24 years with the interviewer-rated Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (PCL:SV; S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995). Data from over 250 participants of the middle sample of the Pittsburgh Youth Study were used to examine these relations. Item content analyses demonstrated considerable overlap among the three indices, indicating that the downward translation utilizes criteria similar to those of experts and the empirically-derived measure. In addition, these indices, even after removing overlapping items, demonstrated considerable convergence, also supporting the content validity of the downward translation. These results suggest that the downward translation method is adequate for understanding the juvenile psychopathy construct.     

The reliability and validity of the psychopathy checklist: youth version (PCL:YV) in nonincarcerated adolescent males

Current knowledge about the validity of the psychopathy syndrome in youth is limited largely to studies relying on parent-teacher rating scales or slight modifications of adult measures. Recently, the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV) was designed for use with adolescents. However, most studies that have used this measure examined incarcerated males and addressed only validity criteria related to antisocial behavior. We investigated the generality and construct validity of the psychopathy syndrome in an adolescent sample by assessing 115 adolescent males on probation with the PCL:YV. Reliability of measurement was high. PCL:YV ratings predicted not only antisocial behaviour but also other indices of childhood psychopathology, interpersonal behaviors associated with adult psychopathy, and a lack of attachment to parents. These findings suggest that the PCL:YV identifies a syndrome in adolescence consistent with theory and research on adult males.     

Factor structure of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV) in incarcerated adolescents

Two studies are reported on the underlying dimensions of the psychopathy construct in adolescents as measured by the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL: YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003). In Study 1, the PCL: YV item ratings for 505 male adolescents incarcerated in 5 different settings in North America were used to test the fit of 3 models that have been hypothesized to represent the structure of psychopathy in adults. A 4th model based on parceling PCL: YV items was also tested. In Study 2, these models were tested with a sample of 233 male adolescents incarcerated in 2 facilities in the United Kingdom. Model fit results indicated that the 18-item 4-factor model developed by Hare (2003) and a modified version of a 13-item 3-factor model developed by Cooke and Michie (2001) were associated with generally good fit. Because the 4-factor model is a less saturated model than the 3-factor model (better parameter to data point ratio), it survived a riskier test of disconfirmation. Implications for the nature of psychopathy in youth are discussed.     

Examining the construct validity of the elemental psychopathy assessment

Lynam and colleagues recently developed a new self-report inventory for the assessment of psychopathy, the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA). Using a sample of undergraduates (N = 227), the authors examined the construct validity of the EPA by examining its correlations with self and stranger ratings on the Five-Factor Model, as well as self-reported ratings of personality disorders, social cognition, and love styles. The EPA psychopathy scores manifested expected correlations with both self and stranger ratings of the Five-Factor Model, particularly with the domains of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, and were significantly related to various forms of personality pathology such as narcissism and antisocial personality disorders. The EPA also manifested expected relations with aggressive social cognitions. Finally, the EPA psychopathy scores were correlated with romantic love styles indicative of game playing and infidelity. The current results provide further evidence of the construct validity of the EPA as it manifests relations consistent with the nomological network of psychopathy.     

The Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy scale: an examination of the personality traits and disorders associated with the LSRP factors

There are several self-report measures of psychopathy, most of which use a two-factor structure. There is debate regarding the convergence of these factors, particularly with regard to Factor 1 (F1), which is related to the interpersonal and affective aspects of psychopathy; Factor 2 (F2) is related to the social deviance associated with psychopathy. This study examines the relations between the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy (LSRP) factors and personality traits and disorders (PDs) in an undergraduate sample (n = 271). LSRP Factor 1 is related to an antagonistic interpersonal style (i.e., low Agreeableness; high Narcissistic PD and ratings of prototypical psychopathy), whereas Factor 2 is more strongly related to negative emotionality (i.e., Neuroticism), disinhibition (i.e., low Conscientiousness) and a broad array of PD symptoms. The authors interpret these findings in the context of alternative measures of psychopathy and suggest that the LSRP is a reasonable, albeit imperfect, measure of psychopathy.     

A comparison of MMPI--2 measures of psychopathic deviance in a forensic setting

We examined the convergent and discriminant validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 (MMPI--2) measures of psychopathy, including the Clinical Scale 4, Restructured Clinical Scale 4 (RC4), Content Scale Antisocial Practices (ASP), and Personality Psychopathology Five Scale Disconstraint (DISC). Comparisons of the empirical correlates of these scales were conducted with 2 samples of participants evaluated at a criminal court clinic. The 2 samples included 59 men and 19 women and 913 men and 327 women, respectively. Two types of criteria (clinician ratings and archival record review) were utilized in the analyses. Relative to Clinical Scale 4, RC4 had significantly greater convergent validity in predicting psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist--Screening Version (S. D. Hart, D. N. Cox, & R. D. Hare, 1995) and behavioral criteria associated with this construct. RC4 also showed substantially improved discriminant validity when compared with its Clinical Scale counterpart. Among all the MMPI-2 scales studied, RC4 was the best measure of the social deviance traits of psychopathy.     

Development and Preliminary Validation of a Self-Report Measure of Psychopathic Personality Traits in Noncriminal Population

Research on psychopathy has been hindered by persisting difficulties and controversies regarding its assessment. The primary goals of this set of studies were to (a) develop, and initiate the construct validation of, a self-report measure that assesses the major personality traits of psychopathy in noncriminal populations and (b) clarify the nature of these traits via an exploratory approach to test construction. This measure, the Psychopathic Personality inventory (PPI), was developed by writing items to assess a large number of personality domains relevant to psychopathy and performing successive item-level factor analyses and revisions on three undergraduate samples. The PPI total score and its eight subscales were found to possess satisfactory internal consistency and test-retest reliability. In four studies with undergraduates, the PPI and its subscales exhibited a promising pattern of convergent and discriminant validity with self-report, psychiatric interview, observer rating, and family history data. In addition, the PPI total score demonstrated incremental validity relative to several commonly used self-report psychopathy-related measures. Future construct validational studies, unresolved conceptual issues regarding the assessment of psychopathy, and potential research uses of the PPI are outlined.     

Assessing the basic traits associated with psychopathy: development and validation of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment

A new self-report assessment of the basic traits of psychopathy was developed with a general trait model of personality (five-factor model [FFM]) as a framework. Scales were written to assess maladaptive variants of the 18 FFM traits that are robustly related to psychopathy across a variety of perspectives including empirical correlations, expert ratings, and translations of extant assessments. Across 3 independent undergraduate samples (N = 210-354), the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA) scales proved to be internally consistent and unidimensional, and were strongly related to the original FFM scales from which they were derived (mean convergent r = .66). The EPA scales also demonstrated substantial incremental validity in the prediction of existing psychopathy measures over their FFM counterparts. When summed to form a psychopathy total score, the EPA was substantially correlated with 3 commonly used psychopathy measures (mean r = .81). Finally, in a small male forensic sample (N = 70), the EPA was significantly correlated with scores on a widely used self-report psychopathy measure, disciplinary infractions, alcohol use, and antisocial behavior. The EPA provides an opportunity to examine psychopathy and its nomological network through smaller, more basic units of personality rather than by scales or factors that blend these elements.     

Can We Use Hare’s Psychopathy Model within Forensic and Non-Forensic Populations? An Empirical Investigation

Although psychopathy construct (Self-Report Psychopathy Scale–Short Form [SRP–SF]) was assessed among various samples, prior research did not investigate whether the model proposed by Hare and colleagues can be used to capture psychopathy scores derived from forensic and nonforensic populations. The main objective of the current study was to test dimensionality, construct validity, and factorial invariance of the SRP–SF within prison (n = 730) and student (n = 2,506) samples. Our results indicate that the SRP–SF measure cannot be used in the same way within forensic and nonforensic samples, which may be due to the inclusion of criminal/antisocial traits as an integral part of psychopathy.     

Psychometric analysis of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) with female inmates

This study evaluated the reliability, internal structure, and validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996) among female inmates (n = 153) housed at a multilevel prison facility. Findings from this research suggested both strengths and weaknesses associated with PPI psychopathy assessment. Reliability of the PPI was supported by internal consistency analyses of scale and subscale item sets, and test-retest reliability was supported by findings obtained with a subsample (n = 36) retested an average of 49 days after initial test administration. Validity of the PPI total score was also supported by moderate to very high correlations with other self-report measures of psychopathy. Relative weaknesses of the PPI were evident by the low or negative associations among many of the PPI subscales, moderate associations that PPI total scores demonstrated with response set indexes, and the similarity of PPI total scores among female inmates and undergraduates. Findings from this research are considered in relation to possible sex differences in the expression of psychopathy and challenges associated with the assessment of the psychopathy construct with self-report methods.     

A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations

This paper describes an early phase in the development of new research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. The scale is meant to be a sort of operational definition of the procedures that go into making global ratings of psychopathy. While the interrater reliability of these ratings is very high ( > 0.85) they are difficult to make, require a considerable amount of experience, and the procedures involved are not easily communicated to other investigators. Following a series of analyses, 22 items were chosen as representative of the type of information used in making global ratings. Two investigators then used interview and case-history data to complete the 22-item checklist for 143 male prison inmates. The correlation between the two sets of total checklist scores was 0.93 and coefficient alpha was 0.88, indicating a very high degree of scale reliability. The correlation between the total checklist scores and global ratings of psychopathy was 0.83. A series of multivariate analyses explored the factorial structure of the scale and demonstrated its ability to discriminate very accurately between inmates with high and low ratings of psychopathy. Preliminary indications are that the checklist will hold up well to crossvalidation.     

Construct validity of the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART): associations with psychopathy and impulsivity

To continue research assessing the validity of the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART) as a measure of risk taking, the BART was administered to a nonforensic sample of individuals with varying levels of psychopathic characteristics. Construct validity of the BART was evaluated by measuring risk-taking behavior in relation to self-reported psychopathy, anxiety, psychophysiological data, and demographic variables. Supporting the construct validity of the BART, while controlling for variance accounted for by interrelated variables in the context of hierarchical regression analyses, higher self-reported psychopathy was significantly predictive of increased risk taking on the BART. Findings also revealed interesting gender differences in self-reported psychopathy and a trend for men to engage in riskier behavior. Limitations and research directions are presented.     

Emotional processing in psychopathic personality

Emotional‐processing deficits may be one of the characteristic features of impaired affect in individuals with psychopathy. These include shallowness and profound lack of remorse or empathy. Performances on standardized emotion discrimination tasks and mood induction tasks were compared between 17 patients with antisocial personality disorder (DSM‐IV) and 17 nonpsychopaths. Subjects with psychopathic personality demonstrated poorer performance on emotion‐discrimination tasks compared with controls. However, higher scores on factor “emotional detachment” of the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL‐R) were associated with better discrimination ability. Subjective ratings were comparable between groups during mood induction. Although the findings support the hypothesis of a significant association between impaired emotional processing and psychopathy, they also suggest a relationship between emotional discrimination and the core personality features of psychopathy. Aggr. Behav. 28:394–400, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.     

Predicting dangerousness with two Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory psychopathy scales: the importance of egocentric and callous traits

Psychopathy in youth has received increased recognition as a critical clinical construct for the evaluation and management of adolescents who have come into contact with the law (e.g., Forth, Hare, & Hart, 1990; Frick, 1998; Lynam, 1996, 1998). Although considerable attention has been devoted to the adult construct of psychopathy and its relation to recidivism, psychopathy in adolescents has been less thoroughly researched. Recently, a psychopathy scale (Murrie and Cornell Psychopathy Scale; Murrie & Cornell, 2000) was developed from items of the Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory (MACI; Millon, 1993). This scale was found to be highly related to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 1991) and was judged to have demonstrated good criterion validity. A necessary step in the validation process of any psychopathy scale is establishing its predictive validity. With this in mind, we investigated the ability of the MACI Psychopathy Scale to predict recidivism with 55 adolescent offenders 2 years after they had been evaluated at a juvenile court evaluation unit. In addition, we devised a psychopathy scale from MACI items that aligned more closely with Cooke and Michie (2001) and Frick, Bodin, and Barry's (2001) recommendations for the refinement of psychopathy and tested its predictive validity. Results indicate that both scales had predictive utility. Interpersonal and affective components of the revised scale were particularly important in the prediction of both general and violent reoffending.     

Reliability and construct validity of the psychopathy checklist - revised for Latino, European American, and African American male inmates

The utility of the psychopathy construct in predicting laboratory deficits, criminal behavior, response to intervention, and recidivism has been well documented in European American populations. However, less is known about the manifestation and correlates of psychopathy in Latino and African American populations. The present study examined the reliability and construct validity of the Psychopathy Checklist - Revised (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 2003) in 83 Latino inmates compared with matched samples of African Americans and European Americans. Results provide preliminary evidence that the PCL-R provides a reliable and valid measure of psychopathy in Latinos, with generally similar patterns emerging across external correlates; however, some ethnic group differences were noted for relationships between psychopathy indicators and some external correlates.     

The importance of callous-unemotional traits for extending the concept of psychopathy to children

This study focused on the use of callous-unemotional (CU) traits to identify a subgroup of children with both attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and a conduct problem diagnosis (oppositional defiant disorder [ODD] or conduct disorder [CD] who show characteristics similar to adults with psychopathy. In a clinic-referred sample of children aged 6 to 13 years (N = 154), those with diagnoses of both ADHD and ODD/CD were divided on the basis of teacher ratings of CU traits. Children high on these traits showed features typically associated with psychopathy, such as a lack of fearfulness and a reward-dominant response style. Furthermore, children with CU traits seemed less distressed by their behavior problems. These findings are consistent with research on adults showing that impulsivity and antisocial behavior alone are insufficient to document persons who fit the construct of psychopathy.     

An examination of the Validity of the Elemental Psychopathy Assessment: Relations with Other Psychopathy Measures,Aggression, and Externalizing Behaviors

The Elemental Psychopathy Assessment (EPA) is a new self-report measure of psychopathy designed to assess the personality traits associated with psychopathy from a Five Factor Model perspective. The current study examined the validity of the EPA in sample of undergraduates by examining the relations between the EPA scales and three validated self-report psychopathy instruments, as well as assessments of aggression, substance use, and antisocial behavior. The EPA scales manifested strong convergent validity with the extant psychopathy measures and an expected pattern of relations with measures of externalizing behaviors. Overall, the EPA appears to be a promising measure of psychopathy which provides new opportunities to explore the underlying structure of this construct and parse its relations with constructs central to its nomological network.     

Problem of item overlap between the psychopathy screening device and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, and conduct disorder rating scales

Content validity requires a clear definition of the construct of interest and the delineation of the construct from similar constructs. Content validity also requires that the items be representative of the construct as well as specific to the construct. An examination of the items on the Psychopathy Screening Device (PSD), a parent- and teacher-rating scale of childhood psychopathy, indicates significant overlap with the symptoms and associated features of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), and conduct disorder (CD). The failure of the PSD to have unique items results in poor discriminant validity with ADHD, ODD, and CD rating scales. More careful attention to content validation guidelines is required to develop a more useful measure of childhood psychopathy.