Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD): Factor structure and convergent discriminant validity in 14- to 19-year-old middle-to-upper-income adolescents.

The Proposed Specifiers for Conduct Disorder (PSCD; Salekin & Hare, 2016) self-report scale measures psychopathic traits and conduct disorder in children and adolescents. The present study tested the psychometric properties of the PSCD in a sample of middle-to-upper-income adolescents (N = 286, Mage = 15.40; SD = 1.21). Specifically, we tested the factor structure (one-, two-, three-, and four-factor models), convergent and discriminant validity, and criterion-related validity of the PSCD. As expected, we found that a four-factor PSCD model best fit the data. In addition, we found that the PSCD subfactors were intercorrelated, demonstrated good reliability, exhibited good convergent validity with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-based disruptive behavior disorders (i.e., conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder) and pertinent personality constructs (i.e., assured-dominant, cold-hearted), and demonstrated good discriminant validity with internalizing disorders (i.e., anxiety and depression) and relevant personality dimensions (i.e., warm-agreeable). Criterion-related validity analyses showed that the PSCD demonstrated the hypothesized relations with parenting practices, peer functioning, prosociality, relational aggression, antisocial conduct, substance use, impersonal/unsafe sex, and unsafe driving practices. The prevalence rate for elevated PSCD scores in this sample was found to be 3.4%. Findings indicate that the PSCD measure may help to advance our understanding of psychopathic personality specifiers for conduct disorder in middle-to-upper-income adolescents. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).