Reactive Criminal Thinking as a Consequence of Low Self-Control and Prior Offending

The purpose of this study was to determine if low self-control and prior serious offending serve as antecedents to reactive criminal thinking. Cross-lagged correlations between low self-control and serious offending were examined in 5,427 male and female members of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) in an effort to determine their effect on subsequent reactive criminal thinking. Results from a five-equation path analysis showed that the two cross-lagged relationships were equally predictive of reactive criminal thinking. These findings suggest that reactive criminal thinking may have its roots in low self-control and prior serious offending.     

Differentiating categorical and dimensional data with taxometric analysis: are two variables better than none?

Taxometric analyses have proven helpful for distinguishing categorical and dimensional data. Many taxometric procedures require at least 3 variables for analysis. What if a construct is defined by only 2 conceptually nonredundant characteristics or a data set contains only 2 empirically nonredundant variables? In Study 1, we performed extensive simulations to determine whether informative results can be obtained when only 2 variables are available for taxometric analysis. The mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC) and maximum slope (MAXSLOPE) procedures, used with parallel analyses of comparison data, successfully differentiated categorical and dimensional structure. With just 2 variables, it seems especially important that indicators vary across as many distinct values as possible and that investigators obtain as large a sample as possible. Additional findings address questions about the most effective way to implement taxometric analyses. In Study 2, the potential utility of 2-variable taxometric analysis is illustrated using data on proactive and reactive childhood aggression, where the results provided strong support for dimensional structure. As long as high-quality data are available, it appears that one can have confidence in the results of taxometric analyses performed with only 2 variables.     

Predicting recidivism with the Psychopathy Checklist: are factor score composites really necessary?

In two previous studies on general and violent recidivism (Walters & Heilbrun, 2010; Walters, Knight, Grann, & Dahle, 2008), the summed composite antisocial facet of the Psychopathy Checklist displayed incremental validity relative to the other 3 facets (interpersonal, affective, lifestyle), whereas the other 3 facets generally failed to demonstrate incremental validity relative to the antisocial facet. Because summed composite scores do not account for ordinal item distributions, the 6 Walters et al. (2008) samples were reanalyzed with factor score composites derived from a 4-factor confirmatory factor analysis. The results, however, showed little change from what had been obtained earlier with summed composite scores. Two additional samples not previously included in any incremental validity analyses of the Psychopathy Checklist evidenced a 3-factor structure, with the lifestyle and antisocial facets merged into a single factor. This single factor displayed incremental validity relative to the interpersonal and affective facets, but the reverse was not true regardless of whether summed composite scores or factor score composites were used. A comparison of zero-order correlations from all 8 samples revealed that the antisocial summed composite score predicted significantly better than the summed composite scores for the other 3 facets and that a superordinate factor failed to improve on the performance of either the antisocial summed composite score or the antisocial factor score composite.     

Malingering as a categorical or dimensional construct: the latent structure of feigned psychopathology as measured by the SIRS and MMPI-2

The 6 nonoverlapping primary scales of the Structured Interview of Reported Symptoms (SIRS) were subjected to taxometric analysis in a group of 1,211 criminal and civil examinees in order to investigate the latent structure of feigned psychopathology. Both taxometric procedures used in this study, mean above minus below a cut (MAMBAC) and maximum covariance (MAXCOV), produced dimensional results. A subgroup of participants (n = 711) with valid Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) protocols were included in a second round of analyses in which the 6 nonoverlapping primary scales of the SIRS and the Infrequency (F), Infrequency-Psychopathology (Fp), and Dissimulation (Ds) scales of the MMPI-2 served as indicators. Again, the results were more consistent with dimensional latent structure than with taxonic latent structure. On the basis of these findings, it is concluded that feigned psychopathology forms a dimension (levels of fabrication or exaggeration) rather than a taxon (malingering-honest dichotomy) and that malingering is a quantitative distinction rather than a qualitative one. The theoretical and clinical practice implications of these findings are discussed.     

Predicting institutional adjustment with the Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form and the Antisocial Features and Aggression scales of the PAI

I included scores on the Antisocial Features (ANT) and Aggression (AGG) scales of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI; Morey, 1991) and ratings on the Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form (LCSF; Walters, White, & Denney, 1991) along with age and prior disciplinary record in a series of negative binomial regression analyses of total, nonaggressive, and aggressive incident reports (IRs) received in a 2-year follow-up of 120 male maximum security federal prisoners. Findings indicated that the AGG scale, but not the LCSF or ANT, predicted total and nonaggressive IR counts. The LCSF achieved significant receiver operating characteristic (ROC) results in predicting dichotomized aggressive IRs, the ANT achieved significant ROC results in predicting dichotomized total and nonaggressive IRs, and the AGG achieved significant ROC results in predicting all 3 dichotomized categories of IR. Supplemental analyses revealed that the AGG continued to predict total and nonaggressive IRs when the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS; Walters, 1995) Proactive scale was included in the negative binomial regression but not when the PICTS Reactive scale was included in the negative binomial regression.     

Morgenbesser's Coin and Counterfactuals with True Components

Is A ∧ C sufficient for the truth of 'If A were the case, C would be the case'? Jonathan Bennett thinks not and produces a putative counterexample. But I argue that anyone who accepts the case of Morgenbesser's coin, as Bennett does, should reject Bennett's counterexample. Moreover, I show that the principle underlying Bennett's counterexample is unmotivated and indeed false. More generally, I argue that Morgenbesser's coin commits us to the sufficiency of A ∧ C for the truth of the corresponding counterfactual.     

The Relationship Between Masculinity,Femininity, and Criminal Thinking in Male and Female Offenders

The 4 factor scales of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) were correlated with the Femininity and Masculinity scales of the Bem Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) in 100 adult male (33% Caucasian, 44% African American, 21% Hispanic, 1% other) and 100 adult female (50% Caucasian, 30% African American, 8% Hispanic, 12% other) federal prison inmates. It was hypothesized that the BSRI Masculinity scale would correlate negatively with the PICTS problem avoidance scale and positively with the PICTS self-deception/assertion scale, and that the BSRI Femininity scale would correlate negatively with the PICTS interpersonal hostility scale and positively with PICTS denial of harm scale. In male inmates, as predicted, the BSRI masculinity scale correlated negatively with the PICTS problem avoidance scale and positively with the self-deception/assertion scale, although the latter coefficient fell short of statistical significance. In the case of female inmates the BSRI femininity scale correlated positively with denial of harm but failed to correlate significantly with interpersonal hostility. The implications of these results are discussed.