Abstract
Despite general agreement that people with psychopathic traits comprise a heterogeneous group, there is little agreement about the nature of psychopathy subtypes. Moreover, methodological differences across prior studies of this heterogeneity limit the generalizability of past findings. We addressed the impact of using different sampling techniques on the subgroups that emerge by conducting two latent profile analyses of psychopathy facet ratings. Analysis One included all eligible inmates who participated in the study; Analysis Two was restricted to a subset of eligible inmates with PCL-R scores of 27 and higher. Analysis One yielded four profiles, comparable to subtypes identified in prior research with representative offender samples. Analysis Two yielded three profiles closely resembling subtypes identified previously among studies using more restricted samples. In both analyses, specific latent class profiles were differentially associated with psychopathological and criminal outcomes. Comparisons revealed important similarities and differences between the subgroups emerging from the two analyses. First, subgroups consistent with accounts of manipulative and explosive psychopathy appear to provide more precise descriptions of the most prominent subgroups of offenders with psychopathic traits in this forensic sample than some labels used in prior studies. In addition, the explosive psychopathy subgroup may be easier to identify at higher levels of psychopathy than in a fully representative sample of offenders.