Prevalence and Correlates of Psychopathy in the General Population

Abstract

Psychopathy encompasses a constellation of personality traits-including callousness, boldness, and disinhibition-associated with lifetime outcomes such as criminal activity, substance use, aggression, and other antisocial behaviors. However, psychopathy's relationship with these outcomes can vary depending on the sample tested, and no prior study has assessed outcomes related to psychopathy in a representative U.S. population sample. We thus assessed the relationship between psychopathy and relevant outcomes using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) administered to a sample recruited to be demographically representative of American adults (N = 289). Results showed that TriPM psychopathy was normally distributed and associated with antisociality and criminal behavior. Unlike some prior results, we found that neither gender nor income moderated the relationship between psychopathy and criminal behavior. Disinhibition and boldness subscales, but not meanness, were associated with criminal behavior. These results underscore the importance of understanding psychopathy in the general population to improve public safety and health.

Keywords: aggression; antisocial behavior; population based; psychopathy.