Gender differences in the relationship of antisocial personality disorder criteria to Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scores.

Abstract

The relationship among adult, child, and full antisocial personality disorder (APD) criteria with the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (Hare, 1991) scores, an alternative to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders' APD diagnosis, is examined in 395 men and 121 women substance abusers. Based on prior research, it was hypothesized that the correlations among childhood, adult, and full APD criteria and PCL-R Total, Factor 1 (Psychopathic Personality Traits), and Factor 2 (Antisocial Lifestyle) scores would differ for men and women. There was no difference between men and women in the correlations between full APD and PCL-R scores. Adult APD, however, had a stronger relationship to the Total and Factor 1 PCR-R scores in women compared to men, whereas child APD criteria were significantly related, although weakly, to Factor 1 scores for men, but not for women.