Development and initial validation of the comprehensive assessment of psychopathic personality-self-report (CAPP-SR)

The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality (CAPP; Cooke, Hart, Logan, & Michie, 2012) is a concept map that entails 33 personality traits; it integrates historical and contemporary conceptualizations and operationalizations of psychopathy. The current project sought to develop and validate a self-report inventory to operationalize this concept map. Study 1 reported on the development of a CAPP Self-Report (CAPP-SR) inventory using expert ratings to select items for an experimental version. Next, these experimental items were evaluated in an online sample of 550 community-dwelling U.S. participants who were carefully recruited to match current U.S. census data on gender, age, and race/ethnicity. The application of various latent modeling and classical test theory procedures resulted in the 99-item CAPP-SR measure. In Study 2, two samples from the United States and New Zealand were used for initial validation purposes. CAPP scales showed a promising pattern of convergent validity with other self-report psychopathy scales. The new CAPP-SR inventory is promising for furthering research on this emerging psychopathy model in correctional, forensic, business, and other settings in which this clinical construct is of high importance.