Self-Report Measures of Juvenile Psychopathic Personality Traits

Abstract

The authors evaluated self-report instruments currently being used to assess children and adolescents with psychopathic personality traits with respect to their reliability, validity, and research utility. Comprehensive searches across multiple computerized bibliographic databases were conducted and supplemented with manual searches. A total of 30 articles incorporating the following nine measures of juvenile psychopathy were identified: Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD), Millon Adolescent Clinical Inventory—derived Murrie and Cornell Psychopathy Scale (MC-P), Psychopathy Scale—16 (PS-16), modified Childhood Psychopathy Scale (mCPS), Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory— Adolescent Version (MMPI and MMPI-A), NEO-Personality Inventory—Revised (NEO-PI-R), Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI), Psychopathy Scale—11 (PS-11), and Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI). Current research shows limited utility for the MMPI-A, preliminary yet promising results for the PS-11, PS-16, andYPI, and a growing database of support for the APSD, mCPS, MC-P, NEO-PI-R, and PPI.Although the clinical utility of self-report psychopathy assessment is still open, there are some indications that self-report measures can identify psychopathic traits that are associated with criminological outcomes.