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The question of which features represent the most central components of psychopathy remains unresolved and is the subject of considerable debate. Network analysis, which is a relatively new way to conceptualize mental disorders that emphasizes complex causal systems, provides a means to graphically and quantitatively describe the centrality of the various symptoms of a disorder. We applied association and adaptive LASSO networks on two samples of forensic patients. The first sample included forensic inpatients (N = 277) who were administered the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (Hare, 2003), and the second sample included patients who previously had been civilly committed (N = 1136), who were administered the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening Version (Hart, Cox, & Hare, 1995). The models indicated the items on the affective facet are highly central across both samples and methods, and the item "lack of remorse" was especially central to the networks. Conversely, interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial facets generally resulted in low centrality in the models of both samples. Thus, the models lend support to the importance of affective deficits as the primary feature of psychopathy when psychopathy is assessed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist measures. (PsycINFO Database Record

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The objective was to determine and compare the trait and state components of oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) symptom reports across multiple informants. Mothers, fathers, primary teachers, and secondary teachers rated the occurrence of the ODD symptoms in 810 Spanish children (55% boys) on two occasions (end first and second grades). Single source latent state-trait (LST) analyses revealed that ODD symptom ratings from all four sources showed more trait (M = 63%) than state residual (M = 37%) variance. A multiple source LST analysis revealed substantial convergent validity of mothers’ and fathers’ trait variance components (M = 68%) and modest convergent validity of state residual variance components (M = 35%). In contrast, primary and secondary teachers showed low convergent validity relative to mothers for trait variance (Ms = 31%, 32%, respectively) and essentially zero convergent validity relative to mothers for state residual variance (Ms = 1%, 3%, respectively). Although ODD symptom ratings reflected slightly more trait- than state-like constructs within each of the four sources separately across occasions, strong convergent validity for the trait variance only occurred within settings (i.e., mothers with fathers; primary with secondary teachers) with the convergent validity of the trait and state residual variance components being low to non-existent across settings. These results suggest that ODD symptom reports are trait-like across time for individual sources with this trait variance, however, only having convergent validity within settings. Implications for assessment of ODD are discussed.

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