ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychiatry
Sec. Forensic Psychiatry
Validation of the psychopathic processing and personality assessment (PAPA) in the Czech Republic
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Psychiatry, First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czechia
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Objective: This study aims to validate the Czech-language Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA) by examining its factor structure and psychometric properties in a non-forensic community sample in the Czech Republic. Methods: The study included 1013 adult participants (51.73% male, 48.27% female) with an average age of 42.14 years (SD = 8), drawn from the general population of Czech parents with at least one child. Participants completed the PAPA, a 29-item self-report questionnaire. The sample was divided into two groups for exploratory (n=304) and confirmatory factor analysis (n=709). Data were analysed using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) to identify and validate the factor structure. Results: The exploratory analysis suggested a three-factor solution comprising hostile attitudes, manipulativeness, and callous-unemotional traits, which was confirmed through CFA. The model demonstrated acceptable fit indices (CFI, RMSEA, SRMR), indicating a robust structure for both male and female participants. Internal consistency for the factors ranged from acceptable to good. Conclusions: The validation of PAPA in Czech revealed a three-factor structure consistent with core psychopathy traits. This tool provides a reliable measure for assessing psychopathy in the Czech general population, highlighting cultural and sex-specific nuances in psychopathy assessment. Future research should explore the inclusion of the boldness dimension and validate the tool in forensic settings.
Keywords: cross-cultural validation, Psychopathic Processing and Personality Assessment (PAPA), Psychopathy traits, sex-specific structures, Three-factor solution
Received: 28 Aug 2025; Accepted: 27 Jan 2026.
Copyright: © 2026 Sebalo, Anders and Sebalo Vnuková. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Martina Sebalo Vnuková
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