The assessment of juvenile psychopathy: Strengths and weaknesses of currently used questionnaire measures

Abstract

Background: There has been a significant increase in the research use of questionnaire measures of juvenile psychopathy. This paper aimed to critically review these questionnaires. Methods: Empirical studies on published measures of juvenile psychopathy were reviewed with two criteria in mind: (1) adequate scale psychometrics; (2) utility value in clinical, forensic, community or primary health care settings. Results: Despite significant strengths, the review highlights several psychometric shortcomings of currently used measures. Conclusions: Psychometric shortcomings in questionnaire measures of juvenile psychopathy mitigate against their use in applied settings in the absence of full clinical assessments, especially where pre-adolescent children are concerned. © 2008 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.