Similarities and differences among antisocial and psychopathic self‐report inventories from the perspective of general personality functioning

Abstract

There are currently many alternative self‐report inventories for the assessment of antisocial and psychopathic personality traits. The hypothesis of the current study was that similarities and differences among them can be meaningfully understood with respect to their representation of common personality traits. The current study explored this hypothesis using as a point of comparison the Five Factor Model (FFM) of general personality functioning. Six self‐report measures currently being used in antisocial and psychopathy research were administered, along with a self‐report measure of the FFM. Differences were obtained across the six inventories with respect to how they related to the domains and facets of the FFM that were consistent with FFM models of psychopathy and antisocial personality disorder. Implications for the theoretical and clinical understanding of findings obtained with the respective inventories, and the personality disorder constructs they assess, are discussed. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (1980). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders(3rd ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders: Text revision(4th ed., rev. ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Ball

(2001).Reconceptualizing personality disorder categories using personality trait dimensions: Introduction to special section. Journal of Personality, 69,147–153.

Benning

S. D.

Patrick

C. J.

Hicks

B. M.

Blonigen

D. M.

Krueger

R. F.

(2003).Factor structure of the Psychopathy Personality Inventory: Validity and implications for clinical assessment. Psychological Assessment, 15,340–350.

Brinkley

C. A.

Schmitt

W. A.

Smith

S. S.

Newman

J. P.

(2001).Construct validation of a self‐report psychopathy scale: Does Levenson's self‐report psychopathy scale measure the same constructs as Hare's psychopathy checklist—revised? Personality and Individual Differences, 31,1021–1038.

Brooner

R. K.

Herbst

J. H.

Schmidt

C. W.

Bigelow

G. E.

Costa

P. T.

(1993).Antisocial personality disorder among drug abusers: Relations to other personality diagnoses and the five‐factor model of personality. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 181,313–319.

Cale

E. M.

Lilienfeld

(2002).Histrionic personality disorder and antisocial personality disorder: Sex differentiated manifestations of psychopathy? Journal of Personality Disorders, 16(1),52–72.

Clark

L. A.

(1993). Manual for the Schedule for Nonadaptive and Adaptive Personality. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

Chapman

A. L.

Gremore

T. M.

Farmer

R. F.

(2003).Psychometric properties of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory (PPI) with female inmates. Journal of Personality Assessment, 80,164–172.

10.

Cleckley

(1941). The mask of sanity. St. Louis, MO: Mosby.

11.

Coolidge

F. L.

Merwin

M. M.

(1992).Reliability and validity of the Coolidge Axis II Inventory: A new inventory for the assessment of personality disorders. Journal of Personality Assessment, 59,223–238.

12.

Costa

P. T.

McCrae

R. R.

(1992). Revised NEO Personality Inventory (NEO‐PI‐R) and NEO Five‐Factor Inventory (NEO‐FFI) professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

13.

Depue

R. A.

Collins

P. F.

(1999).Neurobiology of the structure of personality: Dopamine facilitation of incentive motivation and extraversion. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 22,491–569.

14.

Dyce

J. A.

O'Connor

B. P.

(1998).Personality disorders and the five‐factor model: A test of facet level predictions. Journal of Personality Disorders 12,31–45.

15.

Edens

J. F.

Poythress

N. G.

Watkins

M. M.

(2001).Further validation of the Psychopathic Personality Inventory among offenders: Personality and behavioral correlates. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15(5),403–415.

16.

Funder

D. C.

(2001).Personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 52,197–221.

17.

Goldberg

L. R.

(1993).The structure of phenotypic personality traits. American Psychologist, 48,26–34.

18.

Hare

R. D.

(1980).A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Personality and Individual Differences, 1,111–117.

19.

Hare

R. D.

(1991). The Hare Psychopathy Checklist—Revised manual. North Tonawanda, NY: Multi‐Health Systems.

20.

Hare

R. D.

(1993). Without conscience: The disturbing world of the psychopaths among us. New York: Pocket Books.

21.

Hare

R. D.

Hart

S. D.

Harpur

T. J.

(1991).Psychopathy and the DSM‐IV criteria for antisocial personality disorder. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 100,391–398.

22.

Harpur

T. J.

Hart

S. D.

Hare

R. D.

(2002). Personality of the psychopath. In P. T. Costa , & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders and the five‐factor model of personality(2nd ed., pp.229–324). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

23.

John

O. P.

Caspi

Robins

R. W.

Moffitt

T. E.

Stouthamer‐Loeber

(1994).The ‘little five’: Exploring the nomological network of the five‐factor model of personality in adolescent boys. Child Development, 65,160–178.

24.

John

O. P.

Srivastava

(1999). The Big Five trait taxonomy: History, measurement, and theoretical perspectives. In L. A. Pervin , & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research(2nd ed., pp.102–138). New York: Guilford.

25.

Klein

M. H.

Benjamin

L. S.

Rosenfeld

Treece

Husted

Greist

J. H.

(1993).The Wisconsin Personality Disorders Inventory: I—Development, reliability, and validity. Journal of Personality Disorders, 7,285–303.

26.

Levenson

M. R.

Kiehl

K. A.

Fitzpatrick

C. M.

(1995).Assessing psychopathic attributes in a non‐institutionalized population. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68,151–158.

27.

Lilienfeld

S. O.

(1994).Conceptual problems in the assessment of psychopathy. Clinical Psychology Review, 14,17–38.

28.

Lilienfeld

S. O.

Andrews

B. P.

(1996).Development and preliminary validation of a self‐report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal populations. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66,488–524.

29.

Lilienfeld

S. O.

Penna

(2001).Anxiety sensitivity: Relations to psychopathy, DSM‐IV personality disorder features and personality traits. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 15,367–393.

30.

Lindsay

K. A.

Sankis

L. M.

Widiger

T. A.

(2000).Gender bias in self‐report personality disorder inventories. Journal of Personality Disorders, 14,218–232.

31.

Lindsay

K. A.

Widiger

T. A.

(1995).Sex and gender bias in self‐report personality disorder inventories: Item analyses of the MCMI‐II, MMPI, & PDQ‐R. Journal of Personality Assessment, 65,1–20.

32.

Livesley

W. J.

(2001). Conceptual and taxonomic issues. In W. J. Livesley (Ed.), Handbook of personality disorders: Theory, research, and treatment(pp.3–38). New York: Guilford.

33.

Lykken

D. T.

(1995). The antisocial personalities. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

34.

Lynam

D. R.

(2002). Psychopathy from the perspective of the five‐factor model of personality. In P. T. Costa , & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders from the perspective of the five‐factor model(2nd ed., pp.325–348). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

35.

Lynam

D. R.

Whiteside

Jones

(1999).Self‐reported psychopathy: A validation study. Journal of Personality Assessment, 73(1),110–132.

36.

McCrae

R. R.

Costa

P. T.

(1999). A five‐factor theory of personality. In L. A. Pervin , & O. P. John (Eds.), Handbook of personality: Theory and research(2nd ed., pp.139–153). New York: Guilford.

37.

Miller

J. D.

Lynam

D. R.

Widiger

T. A.

Leukefeld

(2001).Personality disorders as extreme variants of common personality dimensions: Can the Five‐Factor Model adequately represent psychopathy? Journal of Personality, 69,253–276.

38.

Millon

Davis

R. D.

Millon

C. M.

Wenger

A. W.

Zuilen

M. H.

Fuchs

Millon

R. B.

Van,, &(1996). Disorders of personality. DSM‐IV and beyond. New York: Wiley.

39.

Millon

Davis

Millon

(1997). MCMI‐III manual(2nd ed.). Minneapolis, MN: National Computer Systems.

40.

Morey

L. C.

(1991). The Personality Assessment Inventory professional manual. Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

41.

Morey

L. C.

(1996). An interpretive guide to the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Odessa, FL: Psychological Assessment Resources.

42.

Morey

L. C.

Waugh

M. H.

Blashfield

R. K.

(1985).MMPI scales for DSM‐III personality disorders: Their derivation and correlates. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49,245–251.

43.

Newman

J. P.

(1998). Psychopathy: An information processing perspective. In D. J. Cooke , A. E. Forth , & R. D. Hare (Eds.), Psychopathy: Theory, research, and implications for society(pp.81–104). London: Kluwer.

44.

O'Maille

P. S.

Fine

M. A.

(1995).Personality disorder scales for the MMPI‐2: An assessment of psychometric properties in a correctional populations. Journal of Personality Disorders, 9,235–246.

45.

Ozer

D. J.

Reise

S. P.

(1994).Personality assessment. Annual Review of Psychology, 45,357–388.

46.

Reich

Noyes

Troughton

(1987). Lack of agreement between instruments assessing DSM III personality disorders. In C. Green (Ed.), Conference on the Millon clinical inventories(pp.223–234). Minnetonka, MN: National Computer Systems.

47.

Reynolds

S. K.

Clark

L. A.

(2001).Predicting dimensions of personality disorder from domains and facets of the five‐factor model. Journal of Personality, 69,199–222.

48.

Salekin

Trobst

K. K.

Krioukova

(2001).Construct validity of psychopathy in community sample: A nomological net approach. Journal of Personality Disorders, 15,425–441.

49.

Saulsman

L. M.

Page

A. C.

(2004).The five‐factor model and personality disorder empirical literature: A meta‐analytic review. Clinical Psychology Review, 23,1055–1085.

50.

Tellegen

(2000). Manual of the multidimensional personality questionnaire. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

51.

Trull

T. J.

Widiger

T. A.

Burr

(2001).A structured interview for the assessment of the five‐factor model of personality: Facet level relations to the Axis II personality disorders. Journal of Personality, 69,175–198.

52.

Trull

T. J.

Widiger

T. A.

Useda

J. D.

Holcomb

Doan

D.‐T.

Axelrod

S. R.

Stern

B. L.

Gershuny

B. S.

(1998).A structured interview for the assessment of the five‐factor model of personality. Psychological Assessment, 10,229–240.

53.

Watson

Clark

L. A.

(1984).Negative affectivity: The disposition to experience aversive emotional states. Psychological Bulletin, 98,219–235.

54.

Whiteside

S. P.

Lynam

D. R.

(2001).The five‐factor model and impulsivity: Using a structural model of personality to understand impulsivity: Personality and Individual Differences, 30(4),669–689.

55.

Widiger

T. A.

Coker

L. A.

(2001). Assessing personality disorders. In J. N. Butcher (Ed.), Clinical personality assessment: Practical approaches(2nd ed., pp.407–434). New York: Oxford University Press.

56.

Widiger

T. A.

Corbitt

E. M.

(1995). Antisocial personality disorder in DSM‐IV. In W. J. Livesley (Ed.), The DSM‐IV personality disorders(pp.103–126). New York: Guilford.

57.

Widiger

T. A.

Costa

P. T.

(2002). Five‐factor model personality disorder research. In P. T. Costa , & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders and the five‐factor model of personality(2nd ed., pp.59–87). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

58.

Widiger

T. A.

Lynam

D. R.

(1998). Psychopathy and the five‐factor model of personality. In T. Millon , & E. Simonsen (Eds.), Psychopathy: Antisocial, criminal, and violent behavior(pp.171–187). New York: Guilford.

59.

Widiger

T. A.

Trull

T. J.

Clarkin

J. F.

Sanderson

Costa

P. T.

(2002). A description of the DSM‐IV personality disorders with the five‐factor model of personality. In P. T. Costa , & T. A. Widiger (Eds.), Personality disorders and the five factor model of personality(2nd ed., pp.89–99). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

60.

Wise

E. A.

(1994).Managed care and the psychometric validity of the MMPI and MCMI personality disorder scales. Psychotherapy in Private Practice, 13,81–97.