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Adolescent psychopathy and repertory grids: preliminary data and focused case study

Sewell, K. W., Cruise, K. R.

Keywords:
adolescents; psychopathy; repertory grid

Abstract:
Criminal offending by adolescents is a serious problem. Often, chronic and serious adolescent offenders are conceptualized via a downward extension of the adult construct of “psychopathy”. Despite the obvious implications of social processes in psychopathic characteristics, most measurement tools fail to incorporate social processes in the assessment method of this construct. Thus, these tools often lead to classification without clear implications for treatment. The present paper presents the use of specialized repertory grids to assess psychopathy per se as well as other social construction in adolescent offenders. Two case examples are discussed, along with their grid results, to illustrate the potential utility of these methods. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications and future of constructivist assessment of psychopathy.