Summary: The development is described of the Antisocial Personality Questionnaire (APQ), a short multitrait, self-report inventory that measures intrapersonal and interpersonal dispositions of relevance to antisocial populations. Scales were generated through factor analysis of an item pool adapted from the MMPI, Buss-Durkee Hostility Inventory, and a self-report scale of Psychopathy, using samples of male mentally disordered offenders (N = 499) and male volunteer nonoffenders (N = 238). Eight factors extracted were identified as Self-Control, Self-Esteem, Avoidance, Paranoid Suspicion, Resentment, Aggression, Deviance, and Extraversion. Short scales constructed to measure these have satisfactory reliability (α), and correlations with measures of personality disorder, observer ratings of interpersonal style, and criminal career data support their construct validity. Scale intercorrelations yield two higher-order dimensions of hostile impulsivity and social withdrawal that reflect orientations towards others and the self, respectively. The APQ provides comprehensive coverage of the deviant traits implicated in personality disorder and antisocial behavior, and appears to tap three of the Big Five personality dimensions (Neuroticism, Extraversion and Agreeableness). The questionnaire has satisfactory psychometric properties and can aid research and intervention with offenders.
Psychiatry and Mentally Disordered Offenders in England
