Convergent validity of the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure in justice-involved youth: a multi-informant/multimethod perspective

The triarchic model of psychopathy emerged with the aim of reconciling and accommodating previous descriptive accounts of psychopathy. The dimensions of this model, operationalized through the triarchic psychopathy measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010), have shown adequate correlations with respect to other psychopathy measures in adult incarcerated population, but more research is needed with justice-involved youth. The general goal of this research was to analyze the convergent validity of the TriPM, using self- and clinician-rated psychopathy measures, in seventy-two 14–22 years old males (M = 18.17; SD = 1.18) who were under the most restrictive custodial measure of the Catalonia’s justice system (Spain). The results showed that TriPM shows adequate convergent validity in reference to the Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV), the Clinical Assessment of Prosocial Emotions (CAPE), the Youth Psychopathy Traits Inventory (YPI) and the Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits (ICU), specially when using same informants and assessment approaches. The findings provided evidence that the TriPM is an adequate measure to study psychopathy in juvenile justice context and can contribute to elaborate prevention and treatment programs. Nonetheless, further research employing multimethod approaches is needed.