Top

Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment

Gepubliceerd in:

30-08-2019

The Indirect Relationships between Psychopathic Traits and Proactive and Reactive Aggression through Empathy and Emotion Dysregulation

Auteurs: Olivia C. Preston, Joye C. Anestis

Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment | Uitgave 3/2020

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which empathy and emotion dysregulation facilitate the relationships between psychopathic personality traits and aggression, using a sample of 368 university students. Psychopathic traits were assessed with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R; Lilienfeld and Widows 2005), empathy via the Affective and Cognitive Measure of Empathy (ACME; Vachon and Lynam Assessment, 23, 135-149, 2016), and emotion dysregulation using the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS; Gratz and Roemer Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 41-54, 2004). A series of structural equation models (SEM) compared indirect effects of psychopathic traits on proactive and reactive aggression (Reactive Proactive Aggression Questionnaire; Raine et al. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 512-524, 2006) through empathy and emotion dysregulation. Findings indicated a significant and positive indirect effect of Self-Centered Impulsivity traits on proactive aggression through low empathy, whereas the positive indirect effect of Self-Centered Impulsivity on reactive aggression was through high emotion dysregulation. Both Fearless Dominance and Coldheartedness had significant negative indirect effects on reactive aggression through (low) levels of emotion dysregulation; Fearless Dominance also exhibited a negative indirect effect on proactive aggression via ACME total score. Moreover, Coldheartedness had a significant, positive indirect effect on proactive aggression through (low) empathy. In a final model that accounted for shared variance between empathy and emotion dysregulation, all indirect relationships were maintained, suggesting that each path is not better accounted for by variance in the other. In all, this study builds upon prior research on emotion-related correlates of psychopathy, suggesting differential pathways from psychopathic traits to proactive and reactive aggression.

volgende artikel Irritability and Behavioral Symptom Dimensions of Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Young Adults: Associations with DSM-5 Pathological Personality Traits

Excluded participants did not significantly differ from included participants based on age (t(439) = 0.31, p = .756) and sexual orientation (χ²(6, n = 464) = 12.29, p = .056). Those excluded had a larger proportion of males (χ²(1, n = 465) = 5.91, p = .015) and African-Americans (χ²(7, n = 465) = 29.67, p < .001).

Patterns for participants with missing data (n = 368): Fearless Dominance (12.8%, n = 47), Self-Centered Impulsivity (24.7%, n = 9 1), Coldheartedness (6%, n = 22), ACME Total (8.7%, n = 32), Cognitive Empathy (3.0%, n = 11), Affective Resonance (3.0%, n = 11), Affective Dissonance (4.1%, n = 15), DERS Total (0.5%, n = 2), RPQ Proactive Aggression (5.4%, n = 20), RPQ Reactive Aggression (3.3%, n = 12).

Model 1 was also examined with specified correlational paths between the ACME facets. The direct and indirect relationships between PPI-R traits and aggression types were unchanged.

Almeida, P., Seixas, M., Ferreira-Santos, F., Vieira, J., Paiva, T., Moreira, P., & Costa, P. (2015). Empathic, moral and antisocial outcomes associated with distinct components of psychopathy in healthy individuals: A Triarchic model approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 85, 205–211.

Anderson, J. L., Sellbom, M., Wygant, D. B., & Edens, J. F. (2013). Examining the necessity for and utility of the psychopathic personality inventory—Revised (PPI–R) validity scales. Law and Human Behavior, 37, 312–320. https://doi.org/10.1037/lhb0000018.CrossRefPubMed

Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Hicks, B. M., Blonigen, D. M., & Krueger, R. F. (2003). Factor structure of the psychopathic personality inventory: Validity and implications for clinical assessment. Psychological Assessment, 15, 340–350. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.15.3.340.CrossRefPubMed

Benning, S. D., Venables, N. C., & Hall, J. R. (2018). Successful psychopathy. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Berg, J. M., Hecht, L. K., Latzman, R. D., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2015). Examining the correlates of the coldheartedness factor of the psychopathic personality inventory–revised. Psychological Assessment, 27, 1494–1499.PubMed

Blair, R. J. (2007). Dysfunctions of medial and lateral orbitofrontal cortex in psychopathy. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences., 1121, 461–479.PubMed

Blais, J., Solodukhin, E., & Forth, A. E. (2014). A meta-analysis exploring the relationship between psychopathy and instrumental versus reactive violence. Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41, 797–821.

Brook, M., & Kosson, D. S. (2013). Impaired cognitive empathy in criminal psychopathy: Evidence from a laboratory measure of empathic accuracy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 122, 156–166.PubMed

Chapman, L. J., & Chapman, J. P. (1983). Infrequency scale. Unpublished test (copies available from T.R. Kwapil, Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greensboro, NC, 27402-6170).

Cleckley, H. (1941). The mask of sanity; an attempt to reinterpret the so-called psychopathic personality. Oxford: Mosby.

Cohen, J. (1991). A power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112, 155–159.

Colins, O. F., Fanti, K., Salekin, R., & Andershed, H. (2017). Psychopathic personality in the general population: Differences and similarities across gender. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31, 49–74. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2016_30_237.CrossRefPubMed

Davis, M. H. (1983). Measuring individual differences in empathy: Evidence for a multidimensional approach. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 44, 113–128.

Declercq, F., Willemsen, J., Audenaert, K., & Verhaeghe, P. (2012). Psychopathy and predatory violence in homicide, violent, and sexual offences: Factor and facet relations. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 17, 59–74.

Derefinko, K. J., & Lynam, D. R. (2006). Convergence and divergence among self-report psychopathy measures: A personality-based approach. Journal of Personality Disorders, 20, 261–280.PubMed

Donahue, J. J., McClure, K. S., & Moon, S. M. (2014). The relationship between emotion regulation difficulties and psychopathic personality characteristics. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 5, 186–194.

Drislane, L. E., Patrick, C. J., & Arsal, G. (2014). Clarifying the content coverage of differing psychopathy inventories through reference to the Triarchic psychopathy measure. Psychological Assessment, 26, 350–362. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035152.CrossRefPubMed

Edens, J. F., Marcus, D. K., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Poythress, N. G. (2006). Psychopathic, not psychopath: Taxometric evidence for the dimensional structure of psychopathy. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 131–144.PubMed

Edens, J. F., Poythress, N. G., Lilienfeld, S. O., Patrick, C. J., & Test, A. (2008). Further evidence of the divergent correlates of the psychopathic personality inventory factors: Prediction of institutional misconduct among male prisoners. Psychological Assessment, 20, 86–91. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.20.1.86.CrossRefPubMed

Fanti, K. A., Frick, P. J., & Georgiou, S. (2009). Linking callous-unemotional traits to instrumental and non-instrumental forms of aggression. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 31, 285–298.

Faul, F., Erdfelder, E., Lang, A. G., & Buchner, A. (2007). G* power 3: A flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 39, 175–191.PubMed

Frick, P. J., & Viding, E. (2009). Antisocial behavior from a developmental psychopathology perspective. Development and Psychopathology, 21, 1111–1131.PubMed

Frick, P. J., & White, S. F. (2008). Research review: The importance of callous-unemotional traits for developmental models of aggressive and antisocial behavior. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49, 359–375.PubMed

Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotional regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotional regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26, 41–54.

Hare, R. D. (1991). The Hare psychopathy checklist – Revised. North Tonawanda: Multi-Health Systems.

Hare, R. D. (1998). Psychopathy, affect and behavior. In Psychopathy: Theory, research and implications for society (pp. 105–137). Dordrecht: Springer.

Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2008). Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 217–246.PubMed

Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2010). The role of antisociality in the psychopathy construct: Comment on Skeem and Cooke (2010). Psychological Assessment, 22, 446–454. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0013635.CrossRefPubMed

Hecht, L. K., Berg, J. M., Lilienfeld, S. O., & Latzman, R. D. (2016). Parsing the heterogeneity of psychopathy and aggression: Differential associations across dimensions and gender. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, And Treatment, 7, 2–14. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000128.CrossRef

Hicks, B. M., & Patrick, C. J. (2006). Psychopathy and negative emotionality: Analyses of suppressor effects reveal distinct relations with emotional distress, fearfulness, and anger-hostility. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 115, 276–287.PubMedPubMedCentral

Hodges, H., & Heilbrun, K. (2009). Psychopathy as a predictor of instrumental violence among civil psychiatric patients. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 8, 131–141.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2004). Empathy and offending: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 9, 441–476.

Jolliffe, D., & Farrington, D. P. (2006). Development and validation of the basic empathy scale. Journal of Adolescence, 29, 589–611.PubMed

Karpman, B. (1941). On the need of separating psychopathy into two distinct clinical types: The symptomatic and the idiopathic. Journal of Criminology and Psychopathology, 3, 112–137.

Keselman, H. J., Wilcox, R. R., Othman, A. R., & Fradette, K. (2002). Trimming, transforming statistics, and bootstrapping: Circumventing the biasing effects of heterescedasticity and nonnormality. Journal of Modern Applied Statistical Methods, 1, 288–309.

Kimonis, E. R., Frick, P. J., Fazekas, H., & Loney, B. R. (2006). Psychopathy, aggression, and the processing of emotional stimuli in non-referred girls and boys. Behavioral Sciences & the Law, 24, 21–37. https://doi.org/10.1002/bsl.668.CrossRef

Lehmann, A., & Ittel, A. (2012). Aggressive behavior and measurement of psychopathy in female inmates of German prisons—A preliminary study. International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 35, 190–197.PubMed

Levenson, M. R., Kiehl, K. A., & Fitzpatrick, C. M. (1995). Assessing psychopathic attributes in a noninstitutionalized population. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 68, 151–158.

Lilienfeld, S. O., & Andrews, B. P. (1996). Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal population. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66, 488–524. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6603_3

Lilienfeld, S. O., & Widows, M. R. (2005). Psychopathic personality inventory—Revised (PPI-R) professional manual. Odessa: Psychological Assessment Resources.

Lilienfeld, S. O., Patrick, C. J., Benning, S. D., Berg, J., Sellbom, M., & Edens, J. F. (2012). The role of fearless dominance in psychopathy: Confusions, controversies, and clarifications. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 327–340. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0026987.CrossRef

Lilienfeld, S. O., Watts, A. L., Smith, S. F., Berg, J. M., & Latzman, R. D. (2015). Psychopathy deconstructed and reconstructed: Identifying and assembling the personality building blocks of Cleckley's chimera. Journal of Personality, 83, 593–610.PubMed

Long, K., Felton, J., Lilienfeld, S., & Lejuez, C. (2014). The role of emotion regulation in the relations between psychopathy factors and impulsive and premeditated aggression. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 5, 390–396.

Lovett, B. J., & Sheffield, R. A. (2007). Affective empathy deficits in aggressive children and adolescents: A critical review. Clinical Psychology Review, 27, 1–13.PubMed

Lykken, D. T. (1995). The antisocial personalities. Hillsdale: Psychology Press.

MacKinnon, D., Fairchild, A., & Fritz, M. (2007). Mediation analysis. Annual Review of Psychology, 58, 593–614.PubMedPubMedCentral

Marcus, D. K., Fulton, J. J., & Edens, J. F. (2013). The two-factor model of psychopathic personality: Evidence from the psychopathic personality inventory. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Practice, 4, 67–76.

Marsee, M. A., & Frick, P. J. (2007). Exploring the cognitive and emotional correlates to proactive and reactive aggression in a sample of detained girls. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 35, 969–981.PubMed

Miller, P., & Eisenberg, N. (1988). The relation of empathy to aggressive and externalizing/antisocial behavior. Psychological Bulletin, 103, 324–344.PubMed

Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2012). An examination of the psychopathic personality Inventory's nomological network: A meta-analytic review. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 3, 305–267.

Miller, J. D., Dir, A., Gentile, B., Wilson, L., Pryor, L., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Searching for a vulnerable dark triad: Comparing factor 2 psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism, and borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality, 78, 1529–1564.PubMed

Mullins-Nelson, J., Salekin, R., & Leistico, A. (2006). Psychopathy, empathy, and perspective-taking ability in a community sample: Implications for the successful psychopathy concept. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health, 5, 133–149.

Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998-2012). Mplus User’s Guide. Seventh Edition. Los Angeles: Muthén & Muthén.

Neumann, C. S., Malterer, M. B., & Newman, J. P. (2008). Factor structure of the psychopathic personality inventory (PPI): Findings from a large incarcerated sample. Psychological Assessment, 20, 169–174. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.20.2.169.CrossRefPubMedPubMedCentral

Nicholls, J. G., Licht, B. G., & Pearl, R. A. (1982). Some dangers of using personality questionnaires to study personality. Psychological Bulletin, 92, 572–580.

Patrick, C. J., Venables, N. C., & Drislane, L. E. (2013). The role of fearless dominance in differentiating psychopathy from antisocial personality disorder: Comment on Marcus, Fulton, and Edens. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 4, 80–82. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0027173.CrossRef

Paulhus, D. L., & Hemphill, J. F. (2006). Scoring manual for the Hare self-report psychopathy scale-III. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems.

Pfabigan, D., Seidel, E., Wucherer, A., Keckeis, K., Derntl, B., & Lamm, C. (2015). Affective empathy differs in male violent offenders with high-and low-trait psychopathy. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29, 42–61. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2014_28_145.CrossRefPubMed

Porter, S., Woodworth, M., & Black, P. (2018). Psychopathy and aggression. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Poythress, N. G., Lilienfeld, S. O., Skeem, J. L., Douglas, K. S., Edens, J. F., Epstein, M., & Patrick, C. J. (2010). Using the PCL-R to help estimate the validity of two self-report measures of psychopathy with offenders. Assessment, 17, 206–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191109351715

Preston, O. C., Watts, A. L., Anestis, J. C., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2018). Psychopathic traits’ differential relations with aggression forms: Considering the roles of gender and gender role adherence. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 37, 628–656. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2018.37.8.628.CrossRef

Raine, A., Dodge, K., Loeber, R., Gatzke-Kopp, L., Lynam, D., Reynolds, C., Stouthamer-Loerber, M., & Liu, J. (2006). The reactive–proactive aggression questionnaire: Differential correlates of reactive and proactive aggression in adolescent boys. Aggressive Behavior, 32, 159–171. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.20115

Reidy, D. E., Shelley-Tremblay, J. F., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011). Psychopathy, reactive aggression, and precarious proclamations: A review of behavioral, cognitive, and biological research. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 16, 512–524. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.avb.2011.06.002.CrossRef

Ross, S. R., Benning, S. D., Patrick, C. J., Thompson, A., & Thurston, A. (2009). Factors of the psychopathic personality inventory: Criterion-related validity and relationship to the BIS/BAS and five-factor models of personality. Assessment, 16, 71–87.PubMed

Russell, C. J., & Dean, M. A. (2000). To log or not to log: Bootstrap as an alternative to the parametric estimation of moderation effects in the presence of skewed dependent variables. Organizational Research Methods, 3, 166–185.

Schönenberg, M., Christian, S., Gaußer, A. K., Mayer, S. V., Hautzinger, M., & Jusyte, A. (2014). Addressing perceptual insensitivity to facial affect in violent offenders: First evidence for the efficacy of a novel implicit training approach. Psychological Medicine, 44, 1043–1052.PubMed

Schreiber, J. B., Nora, A., Stage, F. K., Barlow, E. A., & King, J. (2006). Reporting structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis results: A review. The Journal of Educational Research, 99, 323–338. https://doi.org/10.3200/JOER.99.6.323-338.CrossRef

Sellbom, M. (2011). Elaborating on the construct validity of the Levenson self-report psychopathy scale in incarcerated and non-incarcerated samples. Law and Human Behavior, 35, 440–451. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10979-010-9249-x.CrossRefPubMed

Sellbom, M., Wygant, D. B., & Drislane, L. E. (2015). Elucidating the construct validity of the psychopathic personality inventory triarchic scales. Journal of Personality Assessment, 97, 374–381. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2014.962654.CrossRefPubMed

Sellbom, M., Lilienfeld, S. O., Fowler, K. A., & McCrary, K. L. (2018). The self-report assessment of psychopathy: Problems, pitfalls, and promises. In C. J. Patrick (Ed.), Handbook of psychopathy (2nd ed.). New York: Guilford Press.

Skeem, J. L., & Cooke, D. J. (2010). Is criminal behavior a central component of psychopathy? Conceptual directions for resolving the debate. Psychological Assessment, 22, 433–445. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0008512.CrossRefPubMed

Ullman, J. B., & Bentler, P. M. (2012). Structural equation modeling. In Handbook of Psychology (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.

Uzieblo, K., Verschuere, B., Van den Bussche, E., & Crombez, G. (2010). The validity of the psychopathic personality inventory—Revised in a community sample. Assessment, 17, 334–346. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191109356544.CrossRefPubMed

Vachon, D. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2016). Fixing the problem with empathy: Development and validation of the affective and cognitive measure of empathy. Assessment, 23, 135–149.PubMed

Vachon, D., Lynam, D., & Johnson, J. (2014). The (non) relation between empathy and aggression: Surprising results from a meta-analysis. Psychological Bulletin, 140, 751–773. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0035236.CrossRefPubMed

Verschuere, B., van Ghesel Grothe, S., Waldorp, L., Watts, A., Lilienfeld, S. O., Edens, J. F., Skeem, J. L., & Noordhof, A. (2018). What features of psychopathy are central? A network analysis of the psychopathy checklist-revised in three large samples. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 127, 51–65.PubMed

Vidal, S., Skeem, J., & Camp, J. (2010). Emotional intelligence: Painting different paths for low-anxious and high-anxious psychopathic variants. Law and Human Behavior, 34, 150–163.PubMed

Werner, K., & Gross, J. (2010). Emotion regulation and psychopathology: A conceptual framework. In A. M. Kring & D. M. Sloan (Eds.), Emotional regulation and psychopathology: A transdiagnositic approach to etiology and treatment (pp. 13–37). New York: Guilford Press.

White, B., Gordon, H., & Guerra, R. (2015). Callous–unemotional traits and empathy in proactive and reactive relational aggression in young women. Personality and Individual Differences, 75, 185–189.

White, B., Olver, M., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2016). Psychopathy: Its relevance, nature, assessment, and treatment. The Behavior Therapist, 39, 154–161.

Titel: The Indirect Relationships between Psychopathic Traits and Proactive and Reactive Aggression through Empathy and Emotion Dysregulation
Auteurs: Olivia C. Preston
Joye C. Anestis
Publicatiedatum: 30-08-2019
Uitgeverij: Springer US
Gepubliceerd in: Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment / Uitgave 3/2020
Print ISSN: 0882-2689
Elektronisch ISSN: 1573-3505
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-019-09760-z

Bohn Stafleu van Loghum

Deel dit onderdeel of sectie (kopieer de link)

Abstract

Log in om toegang te krijgen

Andere artikelen Uitgave 3/2020

Working Memory Capacity and ADHD Symptoms in Boys: Examining the Heterogeneity of Working Memory Functioning Using Latent Profile Analysis

Parental Attributions, Parenting Skills, and Readiness for Treatment in Parents of Children with Disruptive Behavior

Irritability and Behavioral Symptom Dimensions of Oppositional Defiant Disorder in Young Adults: Associations with DSM-5 Pathological Personality Traits

Measurement Invariance Across Adult Self-Ratings of Current and Retrospective Childhood ADHD Symptoms

Discomfort with Friendly Giving in Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder

Psychological Treatments in Adult ADHD: A Systematic Review