Validation of the Japanese Version of the Primary and Secondary Psychopathy Scales

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to investigate reliability and validity of Japanese version of the Primary and Secondary Psychopathy Scales. First, similar to the original scales, exploratory factor analysis of the data from a sample of 475 revealed two factors for the scale items. In addition, a sample of 77 provided good indication of internal consistency as well as test-retest temporal stability. Correlations with BIS/BAS scales and PANAS also gave support for the scales' validity. These and other results suggested that, with some reservations, the Japanese version had usefulness of the original scales to measure psychopathic tendencies.