Response style versus crime-specific cognition: predicting disciplinary adjustment and recidivism in male and female offenders with the PICTS

Four samples were used to evaluate the incremental validity of the Psychological Inventory of Criminal Thinking Styles (PICTS) General Criminal Thinking (GCT) score and Proactive (P) and Reactive (R) composite scales vis-á-vis response style in predicting disciplinary adjustment and recidivism. Purified Confusion (Cf(p)) and Defensiveness (Df(p)) validity scales were constructed by eliminating items from the PICTS Confusion and Defensiveness scales that overlapped with GCT, P, and R. The four-item Cf(p) and Df(p) scales were employed as measures of response style and entered into binomial probit regression analyses alongside GCT, P, and R. The GCT score consistently predicted disciplinary adjustment and recidivism in male and female offenders when included in regression equations with Cf(p) and Df(p). The P scale only displayed incremental validity relative to Cf(p) and Df(p) in large groups of participants, whereas the R scale was incapable of predicting recidivism in female offenders when paired with Cf(p) and Df(p).