Identifying associations between TCI personality dimensions and PCL-R psychopathy facets in young male offenders

• Background: The psychopathy construct includes prominent maladaptive personality traits and behaviors. One of the most widely used instruments to asses this construct is the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). However, little empirical evidence exists regarding how this construct, according to PCL-R, can be understood in relation to theories of personality. Aim: To examine the relationships between components of psychopathy according to PCL-R, and personality dimensions as defined by Cloninger’s Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI). Method: Young violent incarcerated offenders (n = 270) aged 18-25 years were assessed with both PCL R and TCI. A canonical correlation analysis (CCA), a multivariate analysis model, was used to obtain latent covariation between the four components of psychopathy from PCL-R and the seven personality dimensions of TCI to identify the variables that most strongly contributed to an association between these constructs. Results: The CCA resulted in two pairs of significant canonical variates (Rc2 = 0.32 and 0.17), where the full model was significant, Wilk’s λ = 0.51, F(28, 488.17) = 3.61, p < 0.001, indicating that a substantial proportion (i.e., 49 %) of the shared variance between PCL-R and TCI was explained. Overall the latent shared construct between TCI and PCL-R was construed of the temperament dimension Novelty seeking, and the character dimensions Self-directedness and Cooperativeness, and by the psychopathy facets Interpersonal, Lifestyle and Antisocial. Conclusion: Within the present sample, results suggest strong associations between TCI personality dimensions and psychopathy, indicating that psychopathy is possible to describe in more general personality terms. Moreover, the PCL-R psychopathy concept seemed to be more influenced by character than temperament dimensions, a finding important to investigate in future research since character have emerged as susceptible to influence by psychological interventions.

Subject headings

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Klinisk medicin -- Psykiatri (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Clinical Medicine -- Psychiatry (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Psychopathy

Personality nosology

Dimensional personality

Personality disorder

the Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R)

Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI).

Publication and Content Type

vet (subject category)

kon (subject category)