Advanced Search

Journal Navigation

Journal Home

Subscriptions

Archive

Contact Us

Table of Contents

CiteULike is a free service for managing and discovering scholarly references - click here to get started.

Sign In to gain access to subscriptions and/or personal tools.
Assessment
This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow References
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in Web of Science
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to Saved Citations
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Request Reprints
Right arrow Add to My Marked Citations
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Web of Science (3)
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Right arrow Citing Articles via Scopus
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Walters, G. D.
Right arrow Articles by Mitchell-Perez, K.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Walters, G. D.
Right arrow Articles by Mitchell-Perez, K.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?

The Latent Structure of Psychopathy

A Taxometric Investigation of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised in a Heterogeneous Sample of Male Prison Inmates

Glenn D. Walters

Federal Correctional Institution, Schulykill, Pennsylvania

Scott A. Duncan

United States Penitentiary, Atlanta, Georgia

Kari Mitchell-Perez

Nebraska State Penitentiary

A taxometric analysis of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) is conducted on a group of 409 male maximum-, medium-, and minimum-security federal prison inmates using the four PCL-R facet scores (interpersonal, affective, impulsive lifestyle, and antisocial behavior) as indicators. Results obtained from three quasi-independent taxometric procedures—mean above minus below a cut, maximum eigenvalue, and latent mode factor analysis—reveal consistent support for a dimensional interpretation of the psychopathy concept in a moderately heterogeneous sample of participants. On the basis of these results, it is concluded that psychopathy falls along a continuum and that high and low scores on the PCL-R reflect quantitative differences in degree rather than qualitative differences in kind.

Key Words: psychopathy • PCL-R • taxometric • prison inmates

Assessment, Vol. 14, No. 3, 270-278 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1073191107299594
Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Youth Violence and Juvenile JusticeHome page
M. DeLisi
Psychopathy is the Unified Theory of Crime
Youth Violence and Juvenile Justice, July 1, 2009; 7(3): 256 - 273.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 AssessmentHome page
J. Ruscio, T. A. Brown, and A. Meron Ruscio
A Taxometric Investigation of DSM-IV Major Depression in a Large Outpatient Sample: Interpretable Structural Results Depend on the Mode of Assessment
Assessment, June 1, 2009; 16(2): 127 - 144.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
G. D. Walters, R. A. Knight, and D. Thornton
The Latent Structure of Sexual Violence Risk: A Taxometric Analysis of Widely Used Sex Offender Actuarial Risk Measures
Criminal Justice and Behavior, March 1, 2009; 36(3): 290 - 306.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
G. D. Walters
Self-Report Measures of Psychopathy, Antisocial Personality, and Criminal Lifestyle: Testing and Validating a Two-Dimensional Model
Criminal Justice and Behavior, December 1, 2008; 35(12): 1459 - 1483.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
K. Adams and J. Ferrandino
Managing Mentally Ill Inmates in Prisons
Criminal Justice and Behavior, August 1, 2008; 35(8): 913 - 927.
[Abstract] [PDF]

Home page
 Criminal Justice and BehaviorHome page
D. K. Marcus, J. Ruscio, S. O. Lilienfeld, and K. T. Hughes
Converging Evidence for the Latent Structure of Antisocial Personality Disorder: Consistency of Taxometric and Latent Class Analyses
Criminal Justice and Behavior, March 1, 2008; 35(3): 284 - 293.
[Abstract] [PDF]