The present meta-analysis integrated effect sizes from 95 non-overlapping studies (N=15,826) to summarize the relation between Hare Psychopathy Checklists and antisocial conduct. Whereas prior meta-analyses focused on specific subdomains of the literature, we used broad inclusion criteria, incorporating a diversity of samples, settings, methodologies, and outcomes in our analysis. Our broad perspective allowed us to identify general trends consistent across the entire literature and improved the power of our analyses. Results indicated that higher PCL Total, Factor 1 (F(1)), and Factor 2 (F(2)) scores were moderately associated with increased antisocial conduct. Study effect sizes were significantly moderated by the country in which the study was conducted, racial composition, gender composition, institutional setting, the type of information used to score psychopathy, and the independence of psychopathy and transgression assessments. However, multiple regression analyses indicated that the information used to assess psychopathy did not have a unique influence on effect sizes after accounting for the influence of other moderator variables. Furthermore, racial composition of the sample was related to the country in which the study was conducted, making it unclear whether one or both of these moderators influenced effect sizes. We provide potential explanations for the significant findings and discuss implications of the results for future research.

The Psychopathy Checklist (PCUPCL-R) continues t o receive recognition among clinicians and researchers for its ability t o predict violent and nonviolent recidivism. This article reviews the psychometric properties and the clinical utility of the PCL-R and reports a metaanalysis of 18 studies that Investigate the relationship between the PCUPCL-R and violent and nonviolent recidivism. We found that the PCL and the PCL-R had moderate t o strong effect sizes and appear t o be good predictors of violence and general recidivism. As a component of dangerousness assessments, psychologists may want t o consider utilizing the PCL-R when making probability statements regarding placement decisions in institutions, parole and conditional release decisions, and community placement decisions for psychlatric patients. The generaliubility of the PCL beyond these groups, which have primarily consisted of AngloAmerican samples, is still in question and requires further research.

The authors examined the construct of psychopathy as applied to 103 female offenders, using the multitrait-multimethod matrix proposed by D. T. Campbell and D. W. Fiske (1959). Instruments used in the study included the following: (a) Antisocial Scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (L. C. Morey, 1991); (b) Psychopathy Checklist--Revised (R. D. Hare, 1990); and (c) Antisocial scale of the Personality Disorder Examination (A. W. Loranger, 1988). Criterion-related validity was also evaluated to determine the relationship between psychopathy and staff ratings of aggressive and disruptive behavior within the institution. Results revealed significant convergence and divergence across the instruments supporting the construct of psychopathy in a female offender sample. The measures of psychopathy demonstrated moderate convergence with staff ratings of violence, verbal aggression, manipulativeness, lack of remorse, and noncompliance. It is interesting to note that an exploratory factor analysis of the PCL-R identified a substantially different factor structure for women than has been previously found for male psychopathy.

Despite a plethora of studies investigating psychopathy among male offenders, little is known about the applicability of this construct to female populations. Research has shown that prevalence rate, symptom presentation, and diagnostic comorbidity differ for females as compared to males. The current study is the first to examine the relationship between psychopathy and recidivism among women. Recidivism data on a sample of 78 female inmates were examined at a I-year interval in relation to the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), inclusion criteria for the Antisocial Personality Disorder Diagnosis from the Personality Disorder Examination (PDE), and selected scales from the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAl; Antisocial and Aggression scales). The egocentricity subscale of the PAl, Factor I of the PCL-R, and the verbal aggression subscale of the PAl were the best predictors of future recidivism. Specific differences emerged between male and female offenders when comparing the present data with previous studies of male psychopaths.

This study examines the treatment response of 141 juvenile offenders with high scores on the Psychopathy Checklist:Youth Version ( M total > 27). Two groups of potentially psychopathic offenders are compared: one that participates in the Mendota Juvenile Treatment Center (MJTC), an intensive treatment program (MJTC, n = 56), and another that receives “treatment as usual” in conventional juvenile correctional institution (JCI) settings (JCI, n = 85). Offenders in the JCI group are more than twice as likely to violently recidivate in the community during a 2-year follow-up than those who participate in MJTC treatment. Treatment is associated with relatively slower and lower rates of serious recidivism, even after controlling for the effects of nonrandom assignment to treatment groups and release status. Implications for further research, treatment development, and juvenile justice issues are discussed.

Psychopathy is thought by many to be an untreatable disorder. This article puts the treatment of psychopathy into historical context and reviews research on the treatment of the disorder with adults (K = 8) and youth (K = 5). Findings indicate that treatment for adults shows low to moderate success with three of eight studies demonstrating treatment gains. Treatment of youth appears to be more promising with six of eight studies showing treatment benefits. Although less than optimal success rates with adults, we suggest that bright line distinctions regarding the treatability of those with psychopathic characteristics from non-psychopathic individuals are inappropriate at this time. We conclude with directions for future research and briefly introduce the mental models approach for the treatment of psychopathy in youths.

Psychopathy has been conceptualized as a personality disorder with distinctive interpersonalaffective and behavioral deviance features. The authors examine correlates of the factors of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), Self-Report Psychopathy-II (SRP-II) scale, and Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) to understand similarities and differences among the constructs embodied in these instruments. PPI Fearless Dominance and SRP-II Factor 1 were negatively related to most personality disorder symptoms and were both predicted by high Dominance and low Neuroticism. In addition, PPI Fearless Dominance correlated positively with antisocial personality features, although SRP-II Factor 1 did not. In contrast, PPI Impulsive Antisociality, SRP-II Factor 2, and both APSD factors correlated with antisocial personality features and symptoms of nearly all personality disorders, and were predicted by low Love. Results suggest ways in which the measurement of the constructs in each instrument may be improved. KeywordsPsychopathic Personality Inventory; Self-Report Psychopathy-II scale; Antisocial Process Screening Device; psychopathy; self-report; nomological network Psychopathy is a personality disorder that is distinguished from common criminality and chronic antisociality by the presence of distinctive interpersonal-affective features (Hare, 2003;Harpur, Hare, & Hakstian, 1989;Lilienfeld, 1994;Lykken, 1995;Patrick & Lang, 1999). Recent self-report measures of psychopathy, including the Self-Report Psychopathy scale (SRP;Hare, 1985Hare, , 1991 and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996), demonstrate better convergence and coverage of both the interpersonalaffective and antisocial lifestyle features of psychopathy. Factor analytic work on these and other self-report instruments of psychopathy has revealed that many of these instruments have a two-factor structure, each of which parses the interpersonal-affective and behavioral features into separate subscales (Benning, Patrick, Hicks, Blonigen, & Krueger, 2003;Frick, O'Brien, Wootton, & McBurnett, 1994;Hare, 1991). Here, we examined in an undergraduate sample the construct validity of the two-factor structures of the PPI, the SRP-II scale, and a self-report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD; Frick & Hare, 2001). We examined the relations of each psychopathy factor to the others, to symptoms of other personality disorders, and to normal-range personality dimensions.Correspondence may be addressed either to Stephen D. Benning, Department of Psychology, University of Minnesota, 75 East River Road, Minneapolis, MN 55455 (e-mail: benn0224@umn.edu), or to Randall T. Salekin, Department of Psychology, University of Alabama, Box 870348, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487 (e-mail: rsalekin@bama.ua.edu). Cronbach and Meehl (1955) proposed the concept of the nomological network as a theoretical framework for understanding construct validity. In this framework, a network is set up between unobserved theoretical constructs ...

While the construct appears to be valid, future work should broaden its focus from callous unemotional traits to all three dimensions of the construct, enhance measurement precision, and examine dimension interactions. Such research could have important implications for CD specification for future versions of the DSM and ICD and speed etiological knowledge and clinical care for youth with conduct problems.