ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Psychol.
Sec. Quantitative Psychology and Measurement
Psychopathy in Adult Male Offenders from Latin America: An Item Response Theory Analysis of the Self-Report Psychopathy-Short Form (SRP-SF)
Provisionally accepted
- 1The University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom
- 2The University of Manchester School of Social Sciences, Manchester, United Kingdom
- 3Universidad Nacional de la Plata, La Plata, Argentina
- 4Universidad de la Republica Uruguay- Centro Universitario de Tacuarembo, Montevideo, Uruguay
- 5Texas State University Department of Psychology, San Marcos, United States
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Research on the item properties of the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) is extensive, and the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale-Short Form (SRP-SF) is a derivative of the PCL-R. To date, studies on the SRP-SF items have primarily relied on classical test theory with Western populations, although research using latent variable models across different cultures is emerging. This study applied an Item Response Theory approach using the Graded Response Model to examine SRP-SF item properties in two incarcerated male samples from Chile (N = 208) and Uruguay (N = 331). It also examined the item functioning differences between these two samples. Findings indicated that Facet 1 (Interpersonal) was the most informative for measuring the latent psychopathy trait. However, six items showed low discrimination and evidence of differential item functioning (DIF). Only two items displayed DIF between individuals with low versus high psychopathy, while seven items showed DIF across country comparisons. Modifications are recommended, consistent with previous Latin American research, to further enhance the validity of the SRP-SF in forensic populations in this region.
Keywords: item response theory, Latin America, offenders, psychopathy, SRP-SF
Received: 12 Aug 2025; Accepted: 03 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Trajtenberg, Sanchez De Ribera, Leon, Menese and Neumann. 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: Nicolás Trajtenberg
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