Self-report measures of child and adolescent psychopathy as predictors of offending in four samples of justice-involved youth.
The authors examined the relation between self-report psychopathy measures and official records of offending in four samples of justice-involved youth (total N = 447). Psychopathy measures included the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) and a modified version of the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (mCPS). Measures of offending included the total number of preadmission arrest charges for three samples (n = 392) and the total number of offenses in the year following release for two samples (n = 138). Neither measure was a strong correlate of preadmission offenses. Although mCPS scores were associated with postrelease offending in one sample, effects for the APSD were observed only when reoffending was conceptualized as a dichotomous variable, indicating a lack of robustness in this association. The findings suggest caution in the use of self-report measures of psychopathic features for decision making with respect to issues of delinquency risk among justice-involved youth.
Boccaccini
Marcus T
MT
Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77341, USA. boccaccini@shsu.edu
Epstein
Monica
M
Poythress
Norman
N
Douglas
Kevin S
KS
Campbell
Justin
J
Gardner
Gail
G
Falkenbach
Diana
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000296:Adolescent Psychiatry; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002653:Child Behavior Disorders / Q000523:psychology*; D002665:Child Psychiatry; D006801:Humans; D007604:Juvenile Delinquency / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D012650:Self Disclosure