The MMPI—2 Antisocial Practices Content Scale: Construct validity and comparison with the Psychopathic Deviate Scale.

Little is known regarding the construct validity of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory—2 Antisocial Practices (ASP) content scale or its differences from the Psychopathic Deviate (Pd) scale. In 3 studies with undergraduates (Ns?=?95, 110, and 100), the ASP scale exhibited convergent and discriminant validity with self-report, interview, family history, and observer measures of psychopathy, personality disorders, and personality traits. The ASP and Pd scales had many similar correlates, but the ASP scale correlated more positively with measures of Machiavellianism and more negatively with interviewer-rated honesty than the Pd scale. The ASP scale demonstrated incremental validity over and above the Pd scale for global indexes of psychopathy and antisocial behavior. Neither scale related highly to the absence of stress and interpersonal anxiety characteristic of psychopathy. The ASP and Pd scales, although overlapping in content, appear to measure somewhat different facets of the psychopathy construct. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathic traits from the perspective of self and informant reports: Is there evidence for a lack of insight?

It has been suggested that psychopathic individuals are incapable of providing valid reports on their own personality functioning because they are either unwilling (i.e., pathologically lie) or unable (i.e. lack insight) to do so. Despite the long-standing nature of this suggestion, almost no empirical research exists on this topic. In the current study, the authors examined the issue of psychopathy and insight by testing self and informant convergence and mean level differences across 3 indices of psychopathy in a community sample (N = 64). Self- and informant-report psychopathy scores were also examined in relation to self and informant reports on traits from the Five-Factor Model (FFM). Convergence was strong across the 3 psychopathy indices and their respective factors (i.e., median r = .64), and there was only modest evidence that individuals rated themselves as less psychopathic than did informants. In addition, the same FFM domains—low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness—characterized individuals with psychopathic traits regardless of reporter. Psychopathic individuals appear capable of reporting accurately on psychopathic traits when there are no direct consequences to accurate reporting (i.e., sentencing). It may be that the lack of concern for the consequences of these traits has been mistaken for a lack of insight into them. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Criterion-related validity of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory in a prison sample.

The Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI; S. 0. Lilienfeld & B. P. Andrews, 1996), a self-report measure of psychopathic personality features, and R. D. Hare's (1991) Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL–R) were administered to adult youthful offender prison inmates (N?=?50). As hypothesized, PPI scores were significantly correlated with scores on the PCL–R, providing evidence of concurrent validity for the PPI. Moreover, unlike existing self-report psychopathy measures, the PPI showed a moderate and positive correlation with PCL–R Factor 1 (i.e., the core personality traits of psychopathy). Discriminant function analysis using the optimal PPI total score value to predict PCL–R classifications of psychopath (n?=?10) and nonpsychopath (n?=?40) resulted in accurate classification of 86% of the cases (sensitivity?=?.50, specificity?=?.95). Results are discussed in terms of the relative merits of these 2 measures of psychopathy and the validation of the PPI for clinical use. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Borderline personality disorder from the perspective of general personality functioning.

The authors extended previous work on the hypothesis that borderline personality disorder (BPD) can be understood as a maladaptive variant of personality traits included within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. In each of 3 samples, an empirically derived prototypic FFM borderline profile was correlated with individuals' FFM profiles to yield a similarity score, an FFM borderline index. Results across all samples indicated that the FFM borderline index correlated as highly with existing borderline measures as they correlated with one another, and the FFM borderline index correlated as highly with measures of dysfunction, history of childhood abuse, and parental psychopathology as did traditional measures of BPD. Findings support the hypothesis that BPD is a maladaptive variant of FFM personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of the structure of self-report psychopathy measures and their relations with general traits and externalizing behaviors.

Self-report assessment of psychopathy is plagued by inconsistencies among the relations of the various psychopathy factors. We examined the factor structure of 3 prominent self-report measures of psychopathy—the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale–III (SRP–III; Williams, Paulhus, & Hare, 2007), the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale (LSRP; Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995), and the Psychopathic Personality Inventory–R (PPI–R; Lilienfeld & Widows, 2005). A coherent 4-factor structure resulted from conducting an exploratory factor analysis (EFA) of the psychopathy subscales along with the domains from the five-factor model. Two of these factors were consistent with traditional conceptualizations of a 2-factor structure of psychopathy (i.e., Factor 1, which loaded negatively with Agreeableness; Factor 2, which loaded negatively with Conscientiousness), while 2 additional factors emerged, 1 of which emphasized low Neuroticism and 1 of which emphasized traits related to novelty/reward-seeking and dominance-related personality traits (high Extraversion). We also investigated the relations of these factors with a variety of externalizing behaviors (EB). The psychopathy scales indicative of interpersonal antagonism (i.e., Factor 1) were most consistently and strongly related to EB. Our findings are discussed in terms of the importance of a trait-based perspective in the assessment of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validity of observer ratings of the five-factor model of personality traits: A meta-analysis.

Conclusions reached in previous research about the magnitude and nature of personality–performance linkages have been based almost exclusively on self-report measures of personality. The purpose of this study is to address this void in the literature by conducting a meta-analysis of the relationship between observer ratings of the five-factor model (FFM) personality traits and overall job performance. Our results show that the operational validities of FFM traits based on observer ratings are higher than those based on self-report ratings. In addition, the results show that when based on observer ratings, all FFM traits are significant predictors of overall performance. Further, observer ratings of FFM traits show meaningful incremental validity over self-reports of corresponding FFM traits in predicting overall performance, but the reverse is not true. We conclude that the validity of FFM traits in predicting overall performance is higher than previously believed, and our results underscore the importance of disentangling the validity of personality traits from the method of measurement of the traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Assessment of psychopathy as a function of age.

The assessment of psychopathy was examined as a function of age in 889 male prison inmates between the ages of 16 and 69. Ratings of psychopathy were made with the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL), which measures 2 correlated factors. Factor 1 describes a cluster of affective-interpersonal traits central to psychopathy. Factor 2 describes traits and behaviors associated with an unstable, unsocialized lifestyle, or social deviance. Cross-sectional analyses revealed that mean scores on Factor 1 were stable across the age-span; mean scores on Factor 2 declined with age. The prevalence of antisocial personality disorder, and, to a lesser extent of PCL-defined psychopathy, also declined with age. The results are consistent with a conceptualization of psychopathy as encompassing 2 correlated but distinct constructs. They also suggest that age-related differences in traits related to impulsivity, social deviance, and antisocial behavior are not necessarily paralleled by differences in the egocentric, manipulative, and callous traits fundamental to psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychopathy in female inmates: The SCID-II Personality Questionnaire and the PCL-R.

The authors examined the relationship between personality disorders, as measured by a self-report screening instrument, and psychopathy as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist (PCL-R; R. D. Hare, 1991) in female inmates. Participants included 136 women from a maximum security state prison. There was a positive relationship between the Antisocial Personality Disorder (APD) scale, which measures conduct disorder before age 15, and the Factor 2 scale of the PCL-R; no other significant relationships with other personality scales were obtained, and there were no evident relationships between any of the personality scales and the Factor 1 scale of the PCL-R. A discriminant function analysis and follow-up receiver operating characteristics analysis indicated that the use of a criterion of 3 endorsed conduct disorder items from the 15-item APD scale was sufficient to correctly identify 71.9% of the women who had been identified as meeting the criterion for psychopathy using the PCL-R interview. However, the scale evidenced poor prediction of nonpsychopaths (specificity = 52.8%). Results indicate the value of using the self-report of conduct disorder items as part of a screening procedure in concert with other measures to select inmates who require further assessment of psychopathy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Using a Five-Factor Lens to Explore the Relation Between Personality Traits and Violence in Psychiatric Patients.

Recent work suggests that predictors of violence are similar for individuals with and without mental illness. Although psychopathy is among the most potent of such predictors, the nature of its relation to violence is unclear. On the basis of a sample of 769 civil psychiatric patients, the authors explore the possibility that measures of psychopathy provide a glimpse of higher order personality traits that predispose individuals toward violence. Results indicate that general traits captured by a measure of the 5-factor model, particularly antagonism, were relatively strongly associated with violence and shared most of their violence-relevant variance with a leading measure of psychopathy. Because interpersonal and affective features of psychopathy are less important than basic traits of antagonism in postdicting violence, it may be appropriate to broaden focus in risk assessment to patients' basic personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Normal and psychopathological personality characteristics of individuals in alcohol rehabilitation.

Relations between normal and psychopathological personality characteristics were investigated in 72 inpatient male alcoholics, who were administered the Personal Styles Inventory (PSI) and the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI). Results support the PSI circumplex model for normal personality traits. All PSI scales correlated significantly with one or more MMPI scales, including the basic MMPI orthogonal factors Anxiety (r?=?.55) and Repression (r?=?-.47), showing a relation between normal and pathological personality attributes. The mean MMPI profiles for subjects categorized by normal (PSI) personality traits corresponded significantly to basic MMPI profile types identified in previous research. Implications for counseling alcoholics and developing treatment programs using information from a broader based personality assessment approach are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Sensation seeking, impulsivity, and psychopathic personality.

The Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) correlated positively and significantly with MMPI measures of impulsivity, extrapunitiveness, and psychopathy, and with scales of overt and covert hostility in 83 male psychiatric offenders. However, diagnosed psychopaths did not score significantly higher on SSS than nonpsychopathic offenders. Evidence suggests that while sensation seeking is related to psychopathic personality characteristics, it may also be common among certain psychotics. With this qualification, the results indicate an association of sensation seeking with impulsivity and psychopathic personality traits. (21 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparative validity of the Shedler and Westen Assessment Procedure-200.

A predominant dimensional model of general personality structure is the five-factor model (FFM). Quite a number of alternative instruments have been developed to assess the domains of the FFM. The current study compares the validity of 2 alternative versions of the Shedler and Westen Assessment Procedure (SWAP-200) FFM scales, 1 that was developed on the basis of items identified by J. Shedler and D. Westen (2004) and 1 that used items identified by R. R. McCrae, C. E. Lokenhoff, and P. T. Costa (2005). The comparative validity of both measures was examined in a sample of persons who evidenced personality-related problems in living (N = 94). The McCrae et al. Neuroticism, Agreeableness, and Openness scales were superior to their respective Shedler and Westen scales. Both research teams developed comparably valid Extraversion and Conscientiousness scales. Implications of the results for future SWAP-200 research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rigid and extreme: A geometric representation of personality disorders in five-factor model space.

Personality disorder rigidity and extremity can be geometrically defined and operationalized within the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality. A series of geometric and substantive assumptions were derived and then tested in samples of college students (N?=?1,323) and psychiatric patients (N?=?86). Normal and disordered personalities were found to coexist in a variety of regions of the FFM multivariate space. Within regions, the profiles of normal and disordered personalities were very similar in characteristic configuration but notably different in profile variability. Personality-disordered individuals tended to be located in the perimeters or outer regions of the FFM space, as indicated by their longer vector lengths. These findings generalized across 2 measures of personality disorders and across 2 measures of normal personality traits. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Validity of the Five-Factor Model Prototypes for Personality Disorders in Two Clinical Samples.

The authors examined the validity of D. R. Lynam and T. A. Widiger's (2001) prototypes for personality disorders (PDs) derived from the facets of the 5-factor model (FFM) of personality in 2 clinical samples. In the 1st sample (N = 94), there was good agreement between the prototypes generated by experts and the profiles reported by patients. These FFM PD similarity scores also demonstrated good convergent and discriminant validity with results from a semistructured interview and a self-report measure of Axis II pathology. In the 2nd sample (N = 132), the FFM PD similarity scores demonstrated excellent longitudinal stability and good predictive validity with regard to consensus ratings of PD features. The implications of these findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Borderline personality traits and disorder: Predicting prospective patient functioning.

Objective: Decisions about the composition of personality assessment in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM–V) will be heavily influenced by the clinical utility of candidate constructs. In this study, we addressed 1 aspect of clinical utility by testing the incremental validity of 5-factor model (FFM) personality traits and borderline personality disorder (BPD) symptoms for predicting prospective patient functioning. Method: FFM personality traits and BPD features were correlated with one another and predicted 2-, 4-, 6-, 8-, and 10-year psychosocial functioning scores for 362 patients with personality disorders. Results: Traits and symptom domains related significantly and pervasively to one another and to prospective functioning. FFM extraversion and agreeableness tended to be most incrementally predictive of psychosocial functioning across all intervals; cognitive and impulse action features of BPD features incremented FFM traits in some models. Conclusions: These data suggest that BPD symptoms and personality traits are important long-term indicators of clinical functioning that both overlap with and increment one another in clinical predictions. Results support the integration of personality traits and disorders in DSM–V. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A comparison of the validity of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) Personality Disorder Prototypes using FFM self-report and interview measures.

Recent studies have demonstrated that personality disorders (PDs) can be assessed via a prototype-matching technique, which enables researchers and clinicians to match an individual's five-factor model (FFM) personality profile to an expert-generated prototype. The current study examined the relations between these prototype scores, using interview and self-report data, and PD symptoms in an outpatient sample (N = 115). Both sets of PD prototype scores demonstrated significant convergent validity with PD symptom counts, suggesting that the FFM PD prototype scores are appropriate for use with both sources of data. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Comparison of procedures for the assessment of psychopathy.

Compared clinical-behavioral and self-report measures of psychopathy in 274 male prison inmates (mean age 29.8 yrs). Assessment procedures included global clinical ratings, a 22-item checklist, DSM-III criteria for antisocial personality disorder, and self-report version of the 22-item checklist, the Socialization scale of the California Psychological Inventory, and the MMPI. Agreement among the various assessment procedures was evaluated with correlational analyses, discriminant function analyses, and kappa coefficients of diagnostic agreement. Results indicate that there was stronger agreement among the clinical-behavioral measures (ratings, checklist, and DSM-III) than among the self-report measures. Agreement between these 2 measurement domains was, with few exceptions, poor. Findings suggest that caution should be exercised when comparisons are made among studies in which different assessment procedures for psychopathy are used. (27 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Understanding the role of impulsivity and externalizing psychopathology in alcohol abuse: Application of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale.

The present study explores the relation among 4 personality traits associated with impulsive behavior and alcohol abuse. Personality traits were measured using the 4 subscales of the UPPS Impulsive Behavior Scale (UPPS: S. P. Whiteside & D. R. Lynam. 2001). The UPPS and measures of psychopathology were administered to clinical samples of alcohol abusers high in antisocial personality traits (AAPD), alcohol abusers low in antisocial personality traits (AA), and a control group (total N = 60). Separate analyses of variance indicated that AAPDs had significant elevations on all 4 UPPS scales, whereas the AAs and controls differed only on the Urgency subscale. However, when controlling for psychopathology, group differences on the UPPS scales disappeared. The results suggest that personality traits related to impulsive behavior are not directly related to alcohol abuse but rather are associated with the elevated levels of psychopathology found in a subtype of alcohol abusers. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)