Assessing the reliability and validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scales in a UK offender population

Abstract

This study assessed the reliability and validity of the Hare Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (Hare SRP) and the short form of the measure in a UK prison sample, using the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) as a reference measure. The Hare SRP and PCL-R were compared for 107 UK adult male prisoners. The SRP and SRP-SF total scores depicted excellent levels of internal consistency and homogeneity and correlated with each other with significant and large effects sizes. Total scores correlated with PCL-R total scores producing medium effect sizes and were significantly predictive of PCL-R total scores with small effect sizes. Implications for practice are discussed.

The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM): Alternative to the PCL-R?

“…There is a wealth of research that has been conducted via a range of psychopathy assessments. However, few scales have been examined with the rigor that is required to reliably use the scales in forensic settings, other than the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003), which is the most widely used and validated clinical diagnostic tool within criminal justice settings, and more recently the Self Report Psychopathy scale (Vitacco, Neumann & Pardini, 2014;Tew, Harkins & Dixon, 2015).…”

Psychopathy by U.S. state: A translation of regional measures of the Big Five personality traits to regional measures of psychopathy

“…(Forthcoming) present evidence that the elements of the triarchic model can be reasonably well-explained by dimensions of Big Five personality traits, but less well-grounded is the subsequent connection between those dimensions and psychopathy itself. This is further complicated by the apparent lack of agreement between some measures of psychopathy ( Sandick et al., 2012 ; Tew et al., 2015 ) and by the interpretation of multidimensional, continuous criteria of psychopathy, given the evidence of psychopaths as a discrete class ( Harris et al., 1994 ). The meaningfulness of the results found here is contingent on both the translation of Big Five personality traits into psychopathy and that psychopathy is something that can be conceptualized as a statistical aggregate across people.…”

Use of self‐reported psychopathy assessments with older adults: An update on evaluation of their psychometrics for people over 60 years

“…These later psychometric evaluations of measures of psychopathy apparently support their reliability and validity across a wide age range, but still none examine the small, older groups separately; it remains unclear whether these measures are valid and reliable tools for screening psychopathy in older adults. Further, many studies involving older adults are with prisoners (e.g., Collison et al, 2016;Tew, Harkins, & Dixon, 2015), which may limit the generalisability of their results to adults in the community. There may be some practical difficulties in accessing older samples in sufficient numbers, as death rates are likely to be high, given the high suicide rates among people with personality disorder, their high risk of accidents, and their various comorbidities; it may be that few survive to be measured in old age.…”

“…Psychopathy, therefore, may present differently in older adults with behaviours that are not criminal but still have serious consequences, including disturbances at residential care facilities and conflict with family members (Agronin & Maletta, 2000). It is possible that the current self-report psychopathy scales do not adequately IPM factor correlated with social desirability (r = −0.36**) and violent thoughts (r = 0.24*), ELS factor correlated with alcohol misuse (r = 0.33**) Tew et al (2015;23-75 capture characteristics of older adults with problematic personality traits, resulting in inaccurate assessments and inappropriate treatment.…”