Comparison between the psychopathy checklist-revised and the comprehensive assessment of psychopathic personality in a representative sample of Spanish prison inmates

In the field of psychopathy, there is an ongoing debate about the core
traits that define the disorder, and that therefore must be present to
some extent in all psychopaths. The main controversy of this debate
concerns criminal behaviour, as some researchers consider it a defining
trait, while others disagree. Using a representative sample of 204 Spanish
convicted inmates incarcerated at the Pereiro de Aguiar Penitentiary in
Ourense, Spain, we tested two competing models, the Psychopathy
Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), which includes criminal behaviour items, versus
the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP), which
does not. We used two different PCL-R models, one that includes criminal
items and another that does not. PCL-R factors, facets, and testlets from
both models and CAPP dimensions were correlated and compared. Two
different PCL-R cut-off scores, 25 or more and 30 or more, were used for
the analysis. Overall, a strong correlation was found between PCL-R and
CAPP scores in the whole sample, but as scores increased and inmates
became more psychopathic, the correlations weakened. All these data
indicate that psychopathy, understood to mean having high scores on the
PCL-R and CAPP, is a multidimensional entity, and inmates can develop the
disorder and then receive the diagnosis through different dimensions. The
CAPP domains showed better correlations when compared with the PCL-R
factors from both models, showing that an instrument for the assessment of
psychopathy without a criminal dimension is valuable for clinical
assessment and research purposes.