Comparing two alternative measures of general personality in the assessment of psychopathy: a test of the NEO PI-R and the MPQ.
This study examined the interrelations between two measures of personality, the Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO PI-R; P. T. Costa & R. R. McCrae, 1992) and the Multidimensional Personality Questionnaire (MPQ; Tellegen & Waller, 2008), and their relations with psychopathy in a sample of undergraduates. Results revealed good convergence between conceptually related personality traits; however, the NEO PI-R facets accounted for more variance in the MPQ subscales (mean R(2)=.49) than did MPQ subscales in NEO PI-R facets (mean R(2)=.35). Both accounted for substantial proportions of variance in psychopathy scores, although the NEO PI-R accounted for larger proportions and manifested greater incremental validity when using the broader domains of each measure; the differences decreased when the narrower facets/subscales were used. The results suggest that, although both measures assess psychopathy-related traits, the NEO PI-R provides a more complete description because of its assessment of interpersonal antagonism and the central role of this construct in psychopathy.
Gaughan
Eric T
ET
Department of Psychology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-3013, USA. jdmiller@uga.edu
Miller
Joshua D
JD
Pryor
Lauren R
LR
Lynam
Donald R
DR
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008960:Models, Psychological; D010551:Personality; D010552:Personality Assessment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011594:Psychometrics; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult