Reliability of file-based retrospective ratings of psychopathy with the PCL-R.
A rapidly emerging consensus recognizes Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 1991) as the most valid and useful instrument to assess psychopathy (Fulero, 1995; Stone, 1995). We compared independent clinical PCL-R ratings of 40 forensic adult male criminal offenders to retrospective file-only ratings. File-based PCL-R ratings, in comparison to the clinical ratings, yielded categorical psychopathy diagnoses with a sensitivity of .57 and a specificity of .96. The intraclass correlation (ICC) of the total scores as estimated by ICC(2,1) was .88, and was markedly better on Factor 2, ICC(2,1) = .89, than on Factor 1, ICC(2,1) = .69. The findings support the belief that for research purposes, file-only PCL-R ratings based on Swedish forensic psychiatric investigation records can be made with good alternate-form reliability.
Grann
M
M
Section of Forensic Psychiatry, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
Långström
N
N
Tengström
A
A
Stålenheim
E G
EG
D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005104:Expert Testimony / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D006801:Humans; D007298:Insanity Defense; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011329:Prisoners / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012742:Sex Offenses / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology; D013548:Sweden; D014754:Violence / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000523:psychology