Taxometric analysis of the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy scale.
Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy scale (Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995) was administered to 1,972 male and female federal prison inmates, the results of which were subjected to taxometric analysis. We employed 4 taxometric procedures in this study: mean above minus below a cut (Meehl & Yonce, 1994), maximum slope (Grove & Meehl, 1993), maximum eigenvalue (Waller & Meehl, 1998), and latent-mode factor analysis (Waller & Meehl, 1998). The results showed consistent support for a dimensional interpretation of the latent structure of psychopathy, corroborating previous research conducted on the Psychopathy Checklist (e.g., Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; Hare, 2003) and Psychopathic Personality Inventory (Lilienfeld & Andrews, 1996) and denoting that psychopathy is a dimensional construct (degree of psychopathic characteristics) rather than a qualitatively distinct category of behavior (psychopath).
Walters
Glenn D
GD
Federal Correctional Institution, Schuylkill, Pennsylvania, Minersville, PA 17954-0700, USA. gwalters@bop.gov
Brinkley
Chad A
CA
Magaletta
Philip R
PR
Diamond
Pamela M
PM
D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000145:classification*; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000592:standards*; D011594:Psychometrics