TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2005//
TI  - Assessing psychopathy in the UK: concerns about cross-cultural generalisability
JO  - British journal of psychiatry
A1  - Cooke, David John
A1  - Michie, Christine
A1  - Hart, Stephen D.
A1  - Clark, David
SP  - 335
EP  - 341
VL  - 186
IS  - 
N2  - BACKGROUND: The diagnosis of psychopathy is important for violence risk assessment. AIMS: To investigate whether the syndromal structure of psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R), is the same in the UK and North America, and whether this measure yields scores that are equivalent in these two regions. METHOD: Confirmatory factor analytic and item response theory methods were applied to large samples of PCL-R ratings. RESULTS: The syndromal structure of psychopathy was invariant across cultures, three distinct factors underpinning the superordinate syndrome of psychopathy. However, PCL-R scores were not equivalent across cultures: the same level of psychopathy was associated with lower PCL-R scores in the UK. Items that reflected affective symptoms had the highest cross-cultural stability. CONCLUSIONS: Scores on the PCL-R obtained in the UK are not directly comparable with those obtained in North America. Care must be exercised when the PCL-R is used to make important clinical decisions in the UK.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0007-1250
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1192/bjp.186.4.335
ID  - ref1
ER  -