A large-scale meta-analysis relating the Hare measures of psychopathy to antisocial conduct.

Abstract

The present meta-analysis integrated effect sizes from 95 non-overlapping studies (N=15,826) to summarize the relation between Hare Psychopathy Checklists and antisocial conduct. Whereas prior meta-analyses focused on specific subdomains of the literature, we used broad inclusion criteria, incorporating a diversity of samples, settings, methodologies, and outcomes in our analysis. Our broad perspective allowed us to identify general trends consistent across the entire literature and improved the power of our analyses. Results indicated that higher PCL Total, Factor 1 (F(1)), and Factor 2 (F(2)) scores were moderately associated with increased antisocial conduct. Study effect sizes were significantly moderated by the country in which the study was conducted, racial composition, gender composition, institutional setting, the type of information used to score psychopathy, and the independence of psychopathy and transgression assessments. However, multiple regression analyses indicated that the information used to assess psychopathy did not have a unique influence on effect sizes after accounting for the influence of other moderator variables. Furthermore, racial composition of the sample was related to the country in which the study was conducted, making it unclear whether one or both of these moderators influenced effect sizes. We provide potential explanations for the significant findings and discuss implications of the results for future research.

Prevalence and correlates of psychopathic traits in the household population of Great Britain

“…The reliability and validity of the PCL-R and PCL: SV for the measurement of psychopathy are established (Acheson, 2005;, together with their predictive validity for future violent and criminal behaviour (Douglas, Strand, Belfrage, Fransson, & Levender, 2006;Hemphill, 2007;Leistico, Salekin, DeCoster & Rogers, 2008).…”

Can family risk-factors moderate the link between psychopathy and life-history strategy?

“…One of the most prominent models of psychopathy was proposed by Robert Hare and collaborators and in this model these four traits are labelled as Interpersonal, Affective, Lifestyle and Antisocial psychopathy features (Hare & Neumann, 2009). Psychopathy represents a construct that has been predominantly explored in the context of criminality and forensics because it is a reliable predictor of criminal behaviour and recidivism (Leistico, Salekin, DeCoster, & Rogers, 2008). In fact, psychopathy is related to various types of socially undesirable phenomena such as aggressiveness, violence and immorality (Međedović, 2015).…”

Classifying Violent Versus Nonviolent Offending in a Diverse Sample of Adolescent Juvenile Delinquents

“…Psychopathy in the adult criminal population has been discussed in the research literature (Hemphill, Templeman, Wong, & Hare, 1998;Leistico, Salekin, DeCoster, & Rogers, 2008), with more recent interest in applying this term to the juvenile delinquency population (Frick, Stickle, Dandreaux, Farrell, & Kimonis, 2005). However, several scholars have cautioned against applying the term "psychopathy" to the juvenile population (Edens, 2001;Edens & Vincent, 2008;Viljoen, McLachlan, & Vincent, 2010).…”

“…However, several scholars have cautioned against applying the term "psychopathy" to the juvenile population (Edens, 2001;Edens & Vincent, 2008;Viljoen, McLachlan, & Vincent, 2010). Some authors suggest describing psychopathic characteristics or traits in youth rather than using the "psychopath" label, as research suggests moderate associations with violence and psychopathic characteristics in youth (Leistico et al, 2008). Others, however, advise against using the term psychopath in any capacity, due to concerns that such a term could yield harsher sanctions or limit access to rehabilitation opportunities (Steinberg, 2002).…”