The present study used an SEM approach to examine the structural invariance and stability of Minnesota Temperament Inventory (MTI) based psychopathic traits during the formative transition from late adolescence (age 17) into young adulthood (age 23). An important implication of using this approach is that it more precisely estimated the structural parameters, and thus the developmental patterns, that characterize features of psychopathy (emotional detachment & overt antisocial behavior) across the 17 to 23 year old period. To this extent, the findings allow investigators to have greater confidence in the magnitude of stability for the MTI psychopathy factors across this timeframe, as opposed to the stability estimates of these factors when based on manifest variable approaches, which are influenced by measurement error.
