Abstract
The aim of the present study was to examine the psychometric properties of the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) among a mixed-gender sample of 782 Portuguese youth (M = 15.87 years; SD = 1.72), in a school context. Confirmatory factor analysis revealed the expected three-factor first-order structure. Cross-gender measurement invariance and cross-sample measurement invariance using a forensic sample of institutionalized males were also confirmed. The Portuguese version of the YPI demonstrated generally adequate psychometric properties of internal consistency, mean inter-item correlation, convergent validity, discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity of statistically significant associations with conduct disorder symptoms, alcohol abuse, drug use, and unprotected sex. In terms of known-groups validity, males scored higher than females, and males from the school sample scored lower than institutionalized males. The use of the YPI among the Portuguese male and female youth population is psychometrically justified, and it can be a useful measure to identify adolescents with high levels of psychopathic traits.
Highlights
The construct of psychopathy is characterized by a set of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral deviant features [1,2]
The results were quite similar to the ones obtained by Pechorro and colleagues [30] in a study analyzing the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI) and the YPI-S using a forensic sample of Portuguese male young offenders, this previously conducted study obtained slightly better results in terms of the fit indexes than the present community sample study
Though not related to this study, for the reasons mentioned above, it would be of importance to revise some items of the YPI, those related to the affective dimension, and mainly the reversed ones. This was the first study investigating the psychometric properties of the YPI among a large, geographically diverse community sample of male and female Portuguese youth, while simultaneously testing for measurement invariance across gender and sample type, and reporting a more appropriate reliability coefficient
Summary
The construct of psychopathy is characterized by a set of affective, interpersonal, and behavioral deviant features [1,2]. Psychopathy is considered a relevant variable for forensic purposes, because it seems to be associated with the most early, severe, and stable forms of antisocial behavior [3,4,5,6]. Despite some criticisms [15,16] the more recent edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5) [17] added the “with limited prosocial emotions” specifier for conduct disorder. This specifier includes features often identified as psychopathic traits, callous-unemotional ones [17]
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