Despite being well-researched, the conceptualization of psychopathy incites much debate within the field. Results from network analysis can inform these debates by graphically and quantitatively depicting the core characteristics of the construct of psychopathy. Existing network studies with Psychopathy Checklist—Revised (PCL-R) scores suggest the affective traits are most central to the construct of psychopathy, but more studies are needed. The current study examined network models developed using data from risk assessments of individuals convicted of a sex offense (N = 615). Findings corroborate some aspects of previous network studies in that affective features were most central to the construct and antisocial traits were least central, but there were instances of traits with notably higher centrality (e.g., Pathological Lying, Need for Stimulation, and Impulsivity) or lower centrality (e.g., Shallow Affect) than in prior research, suggesting that trait centrality may vary depending on the sample and evaluation context.

尽管进行了充分的研究，但精神病的概念化在该领域引起了很多争论。网络分析的结果可以通过图形和定量描述精神病构造的核心特征来为这些辩论提供信息。现有的使用“精神病检查表-修订版”（PCL-R）评分的网络研究表明，情感特征对构建精神病最重要，但是还需要进行更多的研究。本研究调查了网络模型，这些网络模型是使用对被定罪的个人进行风险评估的数据开发的（N= 615）。这些发现证实了以前的网络研究的某些方面，即情感特征在结构中最重要，反社会特征不是最重要的，但是有一些特征的中心性明显更高（例如，病理性说谎，需要刺激和冲动）或更低中心性（例如，浅层影响）比以前的研究要好，这表明特征中心性可能会因样本和评估环境而异。