Increasing the Utility of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Lexical Rating Scale (CAPP-LRS): Instrument Adaptation and Simplification.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Lexical Rating Scale (CAPP-LRS) is a self-report instrument designed to index psychopathy according to the CAPP psychopathy framework. Developed with the expressed goal of advancing the state of knowledge regarding the specific features of psychopathy, the CAPP model and associated instruments have garnered increasing attention and support in the field. Despite the conceptual strength of the CAPP model, the advanced lexical structure of its primary research tool (the CAPP-LRS) has led researchers to question the utility of the instrument for use with some populations of interest (e.g., forensic/correctional and adolescent/young adult samples). The aim of the present work was to address this issue by creating a lexically simplified, though functionally equivalent, version of the CAPP-LRS to increase accessibility to critically relevant populations. A set of two studies (N = 602) describes the adaptation protocol and the initial validation of the modified instrument.

Content Validation of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Basic Version (CAPP-Basic) Using Prototypical Analysis.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) is a lexically based conceptual model of psychopathy. Despite widespread use in research settings, the Lexical Rating Scale for the CAPP (CAPP-LRS) requires an advanced reading level for completion. The present study is the first to evaluate the content validity of the CAPP-Basic, a lexically simplified version of the CAPP-LRS designed for use with individuals possessing lower verbal skills. Symptoms were rated by mental health professionals (N = 121). Findings were largely in line with results of previous studies, indicating good content validity of the CAPP-Basic at the domain and symptom level.

Construct Validity of the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP): Examining the Internal Structure and Generalizability of CAPP Self-Ratings Across Gender and Ethnicity.

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP) is a recently developed conceptual model of psychopathy designed to index the disorder across 33 personality traits. Although recent research has evidenced support for the CAPP model with respect to the convergent, criterion, and predictive validity of CAPP instruments, little work has examined the optimal internal structure and generalizability of the model and associated measures. The present study sought to elaborate on the construct validity and psychometric properties of the CAPP Lexical Self Rating Scale and determine the utility of the instrument across men and women, and individuals of Caucasian and East Asian descent. Within a large sample of self-identified offenders (N = 1,414), we found strong support for a three-factor model comprising domains reflecting interpersonal dominance, behavioral disinhibition, and deficient emotional attachment. Analyses examining the generalizability of the model provide further insight into its applicability for diverse populations.

The Role of Life Satisfaction in Predicting Youth Violence and Offending: A Prospective Examination.

Life satisfaction in adolescence has been shown to protect against numerous negative outcomes (e.g., substance use, sexual risk-taking), but limited work has directly explored the relationship between life satisfaction and youth violence and offending. As such, we conducted a prospective assessment to explore this relationship among community (n = 334) and at-risk youth (n = 99). Findings suggest life satisfaction is significantly associated with decreased offending and violence within both samples and adds incremental value above established risk factors in predicting violent and total offending among community youth. Furthermore, moderation analyses indicate that the protective value of life satisfaction is greater for youth with high callous-unemotional traits. Mediation analyses suggest that youth who are unsatisfied with their lives may seek out substance use, in turn elevating risk of offending. Together, these findings indicate that efforts to improve overall life satisfaction may help prevent adolescent offending. However, future research is needed.

Examining the triarchic psychopathy measure and comprehensive assessment of psychopathic personality in self-identified offender populations.

Despite the clear clinical and forensic importance of psychopathy, definitions of psychopathy and the optimal measurement of the disorder are issues of continued controversy. The present research provides an empirical examination of two self-report instruments indexing recent conceptualizations of psychopathy: the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality-Self-Rating Scale (CAPP-SR) and Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM). This study provides the first examination of the convergence between the two tools, and the first investigation into the criterion-related validity of the CAPP-SR within a self-identified offender population. Our findings suggest strong support for the criterion-related validity of the CAPP-SR and the convergent validity of the CAPP-SR and the TriPM Meanness and Disinhibition domains. TriPM Boldness exhibited a clearly bifurcated pattern of association with all outcome criteria as compared with all domains in the CAPP model, and the Meanness and Disinhibition domains of the TriPM. Further, TriPM Boldness did not add incrementally or interact with Meanness or Disinhibition to predict the majority of outcomes. Findings are discussed with respect to the relevance of TriPM Boldness in the conceptualization of psychopathy, and the possible contributions of the CAPP-SR to the field of psychopathy research and assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).