Personality assessment in violent offenders: The development of the antisocial personality questionnaire

The Antisocial Personality Questionnaire is a 125-item inventory that measu res eight primary traits (self-control, self-esteem, avoidance, paranoid su spicion, resentment, aggression, deviance, extraversion) and two higher-ord er dimensions (impulsivity-aggression versus control, withdrawal versus soc iability). The questionnaire was developed for assessing dangerous mentally disordered offenders, and four profile patterns of primary psychopath, sec ondary psychopath, controlled personalities, and inhibited personalities ha ve been consistently identified in this population. The derivation of the A PQ from an earlier questionnaire is described, and evidence for its validit y presented. Although developed with violent offenders, the APQ is likely t o be of use in discriminating within offender populations generally.