A comparison of self-report measures of callous-unemotional traits among incarcerated youth: associations with aggression, conduct disorder, and offending behavior

The current study compared the psychometric properties and incremental validity of the callous-unemotional (CU) traits dimensions from four self-report measures of youth psychopathic traits, including the Antisocial Process Screening Device Self-Report version (APSD-SR), the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI), Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory–Short version (YPI-S), and the Inventory of Callous-Unemotional Traits (ICU) among a sample of male youth incarcerated in Portuguese detention centers (N = 221). Across these measures, estimates of reliability and internal consistency were gener- ally good; however, the correlations between measures ranged from very low to high suggesting moderate convergent valid- ity. With regard to incremental validity, the Callousness dimension of the ICU was the best predictor of aggression, conduct disorder, and crime seriousness, whereas the Uncaring dimension of the ICU was the best predictor of age of crime onset. The current findings have important implications regarding the assessment of CU traits.
This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT; Grant SFRH/BPD/86666/2012) with co-financing of the European Social Fund (POPH/FSE), the Portuguese Ministry of Education and Science through national funds, and co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (UID/PSI/01662/2013). We wish to thank the following Portuguese juvenile detention centers for their collaboration: Bela Vista, Mondego, Navarro de Paiva, Olivais, Padre Antonio Oliveira, Santo Antonio, Santa Clara, Prisao-Escola de Leiria. Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to James V. Ray, Department of Criminal Justice, University of Texas at San Antonio, 501 W. Cesar E. Chavez Blvd., San Antonio, TX 78207; e-mail: james.ray@utsa.edu.