Development and psychometric validation of the Urdu-language Antisocial personality disorder scale for adults

Objective: to develop an Antisocial Personality Disorder Scale (ASPDS) for adults in Urdu language and evaluate its psychometric properties. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was conducted from February 15 to June 20, 2019, on 234 adults (18-60 years) from different institutions of Gujrat, Pakistan. The ASPDS was developed through diagnostic criteria, literature review, and expert validation, with an initial pool of 91 items tested on 104 adults, refined to 66 items. Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) identified seven factors, excluding items with factor loadings below 0.4. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) validated the seven-factor structure, resulting in a 28-item scale. Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha, and convergent validity was established by correlating ASPDS scores with the psychopathy subscale of Short Measure of Dark Triads (SD3). Results: EFA identified seven factors explaining 62.35% of the variance, with factor loadings ranging from 0.44 to 0.73. CFA confirmed the model fit (CFI = 0.917, RMSEA = 0.063), and the final ASPDS comprised 28 items. The scale demonstrated high internal consistency, with a Cronbach’s alpha of 0.94 and subscale reliabilities ranging from 0.67 to 0.91. Convergent validity was confirmed by a significant correlation (r =0.692, p <0.01) with the SD3 psychopathy subscale. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure was 0.93, and Bartlett’s test of sphericity was significant (p <0.001). Data were analyzed using SPSS-21 and AMOS-21. Conclusion: ASPDS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing antisocial personality disorder among adults. Its strong psychometric properties and alignment with established measures support its utility in clinical and research settings.