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Self-Report Measures of Child and Adolescent Psychopathy as Predictors of Offending in Four Samples of Justice-Involved Youth

Marcus T. Boccaccini

Sam Houston State University, boccaccini{at}shsu.edu

Monica Epstein

University of South Florida

Norman Poythress

University of South Florida

Kevin S. Douglas

Simon Fraser University

Justin Campbell

University of West Florida

Gail Gardner

Argosy University

Diana Falkenbach

John Jay College of Criminal Justice

The authors examined the relation between self-report psychopathy measures and o ficial records of o fending in four samples of justice-involved youth (total N = 447). Psychopathy measures included the Antisocial Process Screening Device (APSD) and a modified version of the Childhood Psychopathy Scale (mCPS). Measures of o fending included the total number of preadmission arrest charges for three samples (n = 392) and the total number of o fenses in the year following release for two samples (n = 138). Neither measure was a strong correlate of preadmission o fenses. Although mCPS scores were associated with postrelease o fending in one sample, e fects for the APSD were observed only when reo fending was conceptualized as a dichotomous variable, indicating a lack of robustness in this association. The findings suggest caution in the use of self-report measures of psychopathic features for decision making with respect to issues of delinquency risk among justice-involved youth.

Key Words: psychopathy • juvenile • self-report • offending • APSD • mCPS

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Assessment, Vol. 14, No. 4, 361-374 (2007)
DOI: 10.1177/1073191107303569
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