Cross-Cultural Validation of a Measure of Asocial Behavior

Abstract

The California Psychological Inventory (CPI) seeks to measure dispositions having universal status, of value in forecasting and conceptualizing interpersonal behavior anywhere. Under this rationale, cross-cultural study is imperative. The Socialization scale of the inventory was administered in 8 languages in 10 countries, to totals of 21,772 non-delinquent and 5,052 delinquent males and females. Significant and appropriate differences were observed in all comparisons. Assuming base rates of 20% for females and 30% for males, the optimum cutting score for the delinquent vs non-delinquent dichotomy was 28; using this score, 78% of the males and 85% of the females were correctly classified. Dichotomous classification is therefore possible, but interpretation of scores should nonetheless pay attention to the full continuum of variation.