Assessing Psychopathic Traits and Criminal Behavior in a Young Adult Female Community Sample Using the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale.

This study assessed psychopathic traits in a nonforensic female population (N = 343). Respondents completed the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-4: Short Form (SRP-SF) and also reported on their Criminal Behavior. The results revealed relatively higher scale elevations for the Interpersonal and Lifestyle SRP-SF facets, compared to the Affective and Antisocial facets. Also, those with a history of Criminal Behavior had significantly higher SRP-SF facet scores on all four psychopathy domains, compared to those without such history. Consistent with a number of previous studies, the structural equation modeling results revealed good fit for the four-factor SRP-SF model. In addition, a super-ordinate SRP-SF factor, which accounted for the majority variance of all four SRP-SF first-order factors, also accounted for 50% of the variance in a latent Criminal Behavior factor. Taken together, findings support use of the SRP-SF to assess psychopathic features in a moderately large sample of Belgium women.