The Persian Self-Report Version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD-P): A Psychometric Evaluation

Abstract

The self-report version of the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) is a commonly used tool for assessing psychopathic traits in youth. This is the first study designed to examine the factor structure, internal consistency, and convergent validity of the Persian APSD-SR in a sample of 675 school-attending youth in Iran (46% girls; M age = 16.35). Confirmatory factor analysis supported a modified three-factor model, with items loading on narcissism, callous-unemotional, and impulsivity dimensions, which was invariant across gender. Notwithstanding that the internal consistency of some APSD scores was unsatisfactory, the APSD total and dimension scores showed the expected relations with external correlates (e.g., conduct problems, aggression, and low prosocial behavior), supporting the validity of the interpretation of the APSD scores. The findings showed that the APSD is a useful tool for assessing psychopathic traits in Iranian adolescents and may spark research on adolescent psychopathy in mental health and forensic settings.

Do Self-Reported Psychopathic Traits Moderate the Relations Between Delinquent History Predictors and Recidivism Outcomes in Juvenile Delinquents?

“…A third limitation was that time at risk was not specified, thus we cannot exclude that it affected our results. A final limitation is that we only used the APSD (that is reported to have some psychometric limitations in terms of validity and reliability; see e.g., Ebrahimi et al, 2021; Pechorro et al, 2013), and other measures could have been examined also (e.g., YPI, ICU).…”

Comparison of the effectiveness of online supportive parenting intervention (SPACE) and timid to tiger program (FTTT) on childhood anxiety disorders and family accommodation with samples of Iranian parents

“…Fifth, all outcomes were entirely based on parent-report data; we suggest future studies recruit data from multiple sources of information (e.g., child-report and/or independent rate outcome data). Finally, given the cultural differences between the Western and Eastern (e.g., Iran) cultures (e.g., Ebrahimi et al, 2021Ebrahimi et al, , 2022, especially in parenting behavior (e.g., Darvishi et al, 2022), parents in this study might have implemented the parenting techniques differently from their non-Iranian parents, so this issue could be examined in future studies.…”

“…Also, prior studies on the efficacy of the two interventions were conducted in Western culture. Given the cultural differences between the Western and Eastern (e.g., Iran) cultures (e.g., Ebrahimi et al, 2021Ebrahimi et al, , 2022, especially in terms of parenting behavior (e.g., Darvishi et al, 2022) and connectedness between children and their families (e.g., Dwairy and Achoui, 2010), it is possible that the treatment yield different results across the two cultures, so it is essential first to study if the SPACE and FTTT programs are effective in Iranian culture. Therefore, the current study was conducted to fill these gaps in the literature.…”

“…Further, longitudinal studies have also shown that anxiety disorders in childhood could be predictors of other psychopathologies in adulthood, especially anxiety and depressive disorders and substance dependence ( Pine et al, 1998 ). Thus, early identification and treatment of ADs are of utmost importance (e.g., Chiu et al, 2016 ; Ebrahimi et al, 2021 ).…”

The Explanation of Adolescent Delinquent Behaviors Based on Jessor's Problem Behavior Theory (PBT) in Iran: The Role of Individual Vulnerability, Opportunity Risk Availability, and Perceived Support

“…Notwithstanding, there are remarkable differences in culture and educational system between Iran and the countries where PBT has been shown to have generality (specifically Western countries) (38)(39)(40)(41)(42)(43). Eastern cultures encourage low arousal emotions, which is in contrast to Western cultures (44); the restriction of emotional expression in Eastern cultures might account for the higher levels of callous-unemotional traits in Asian children compared to children in the United States (45,46).…”