Validity of the MMPI-3 Antagonism Scale in assessing psychopathic personality traits: Findings from a community...

The present study examined the construct and incremental validity of the new Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-3 (MMPI-3) Antagonism (ANT) scale in the assessment of psychopathic personality traits given the centrality of the antagonism domain to this personality disorder construct. A sample of 231 individuals who had been recruited for subclinical psychopathy and externalizing traits from the general community was used. These participants had been administered a range of clinical interviews and self-report measures of psychopathy from which a four-factor model of psychopathy (affective, interpersonal, disinhibition, boldness) had been estimated. The ANT scale was meaningfully associated with affective, interpersonal, and disinhibition traits and added incremental validity to the MMPI-3 Aggressiveness scale in the predictions of these traits. Furthermore, ANT scale scores were associated with a range of conceptually relevant psychopathy symptoms from the Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic Personality, covering the full spectrum of antagonism features. The findings indicate that the MMPI-3 ANT scale is a promising measure of the antagonism construct for both research and clinical practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2026 APA, all rights reserved).