MedUNAB (Dec 2006)
Exploring the construct validity of a scale for identifying antisocial personality disorder
Abstract
Background: Antisocial personality features have important clinical and epidemiological implications. However, the construct validity of internal of the self-reported scale for antisocial personality disorder of the Structured Clinical Interview for Axis II Disoders of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorder (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Asociation(SCID-II). Objective: To explore the construct validity of of the self-rated questionnaire of the SCID-II for antisocial personality disorder in female and male adults from the general population of Bucaramanga, Colombia. Method: A validation study, without a gold standard, was designed to explore the construct validity of the scale for antisocial personality disorder of the SCID-II. A probabilistic sample of 2,496 18- to 65-year adults resident in the urban area of Bucaramanga, Colombia, completed the questionnaire for antisocial personality disorder of the SCID-II. The mean age of participants was 38.0 years (SD = 13.5); 69.7% were women; the mean formal scholarship was 9.2 years (SD = 4.1); 49.1% were workers; 58.1% had a stable marital relationship; and 67.8% were living in middle-class neighbourhoods. The scale for for antisocial personality disorder of the SCID-II has 15 questions with dichotomycal answers. To explore the construct validity of the component principal factor analysis was computed. Results: In the total población four factors were extrated that accounted for 47.7% of the variance; among females, five salient factors were identified that explained 52.2% of the variance; and among males, four factor were extracted responsible for 50.2 of the variance. Conclusions: The scale for antisocial personality disorder of the SCID-II exhibits a differential factor solution for men and for women.
