Identifying Subtypes of Criminal Psychopaths

Abstract

Psychopathy is an important construct in offender classification. Although several studies have suggested that there are two distinct subtypes of psychopaths, these studies have considerable limitations, including reliance on self-report measures, a failure to adequately address heterogeneity within the construct of psychopathy, and predictor-criterion contamination. A recent taxonomic study identified four subgroups of offenders, including primary and secondary psychopaths. We used cluster analysis to replicate and extend those findings to: 1) an independent sample; and 2) a PCL-R factor model that reduces predictor-criterion contamination. Additionally, we validated initial results using a novel clustering method. Results show that psychopathy subtypes are replicable across methods. Moreover, comparisons on other variables provide external validation of the subtypes consistent with prior theoretical conceptualizations.

Examining relations between psychopathology and psychopathy dimensions among adolescent female and male offenders

“…The gender difference found in our study-low anxiety in boys and high influence of suicidal behaviour in girls-could indicate that psychopathy in boys corresponds to the primary subtype whereas psychopathy in girls might match with the secondary. Recent cluster analyses of adults have reported that measures of anxiety contribute to differentiation between groups of so-called primary psychopaths and secondary psychopaths [36,61,64,68]. Skeem and colleagues found in their sample of 367 adult male prison inmates that secondary psychopaths manifested more borderline personality features, poorer interpersonal functioning (e.g.…”

Psychopathy Subtypes Among African American County Jail Inmates

“…Although several studies have provided evidence for two distinct psychopath subtypes, these studies have inadequately addressed potentially important ethnic differences. A recent taxonomic study found evidence for primary and secondary psychopath subgroups in a sample of European American offenders (Swogger & Kosson, 2007). The present study used cluster analysis to attempt to replicate those findings in a sample of African American offenders.…”

“…We also expected secondary psychopaths to have more criminal versatility than nonpsychopathic groups. Because findings have been mixed, we advanced no hypotheses regarding psychopathy subtypes and nonviolent charges.Prior subtyping studies have also identified an offender subgroup lacking psychopathic features (Swogger & Kosson, 2007;Vassileva et al 2005;Wales, 1995). Thus, we predicted a third cluster, consisting of individuals with lower scores on most measures of psychopathology.…”

“…Criminal offenders are a markedly heterogeneous group (Clements, 1996), and there is growing evidence that the classification of "psychopath" may also capture several subgroups of offenders (Poythress & Skeem, 2006). Indeed, studies of European American and polyethnic samples Swogger & Kosson, 2007) indicate that psychopathy can be parsed into at least two distinct subgroups. Whether these subdivisions extend to African American offenders, however, is unknown.…”

“…Moreover, the enhanced assessment of interpersonal behavior associated with psychopathy may help to differentiate among offenders with psychopathic traits. Following Swogger and Kosson (2007), the current study excluded the subcomponent of psychopathy that most directly taps antisocial behavior, in order to provide a more conservative test of external validation via frequency, type, and versatility of criminal behavior.Similar to other studies (Swogger & Kosson, 2007;Vassileva et al 2005) we included measures of drug and alcohol abuse/dependence in the cluster variate. Substance abuse may be an important characteristic for the classification of criminal offenders (Cloninger, 1987;Lewis, Rice, & Helzer, 1983;, and may interact with other personality characteristics to predict criminal behavior.…”