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The Neuropsychological Underpinnings to Psychopathic Personality Traits in a Nationally Representative and Longitudinal Sample

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Abstract

Although psychopathy is a major area of research in psychology and criminology, much remains unknown about its etiological underpinnings. Drawing on data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the current study explored the association between neuropsychological deficits and psychopathic personality traits and produced three key findings. First, four neuropsychological deficits measures were consistently related to the measure of psychopathic personality traits both longitudinally and cross-sectionally. Second, neuropsychological deficits measures predicted variation in psychopathic personality traits for both males and females and the magnitude of the association between neuropsychological deficits and psychopathic personality traits did not vary as a function of gender. Third, parental socialization measures had relatively small and inconsistent effects on psychopathic personality traits. Suggestions for future research are offered.

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Acknowledgments

This research uses data from Add Health, a program project designed by J. Richard Udry, Peter S. Bearman, and Kathleen Mullan Harris, and funded by a grant P01-HD31921 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, with cooperative funding from 17 other agencies. Special acknowledgment is due to Ronald R. Rindfuss and Barbara Entwisle for assistance in the original design. Persons interested in obtaining data files from Add Health should contact Add Health, Carolina Population Center, 123 W. Franklin Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27516-2524 (addhealth@unc.edu). No direct support was received from grant P01-HD31921 for this analysis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Florida State University, 634 W. Call Street, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-1127, USA

    Kevin M. Beaver

  2. School of Social Work, Division of Epidemiology, School of Public Health, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, MO, 63103, USA

    Michael G. Vaughn

  3. Department of Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 50011-1070, USA

    Matt DeLisi

  4. School of Economic, Political, and Policy Sciences, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    J. C. Barnes

  5. College of Criminal Justice, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX, 77341-2296, USA

    Brian B. Boutwell

Authors
  1. Kevin M. Beaver
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  2. Michael G. Vaughn
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  4. J. C. Barnes
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Correspondence to Kevin M. Beaver.

Appendix: Items included in the psychopathy scale

Appendix: Items included in the psychopathy scale

1.

I sympathize with others’ feelings

2

I get angry easily

3.

I am not interested in other people’s problems

4.

I often forget to put things back in their proper place

5.

I am relaxed most of the time

6.

I am not easily bothered by things

7.

I rarely get irritated

8.

I talk to a lot of different people at parties

9.

I feel others’ emotions

10.

I get upset easily

11.

I get stressed out easily

12.

I lose my temper

13.

I keep in the background

14.

I am not really interested in others

15.

I seldom feel blue

16.

I don’t worry about things that have already happened

17.

I keep my cool

18.

I go out of my way to avoid having to deal with problems in my life

19.

When making a decision, I go with my ‘gut feeling’ and don’t think much about the consequences of each alternative

20.

I live my life without much thought for the future

21.

Other people determine most of what I can and cannot do

22.

There are many things that interfere with what I want to do

23.

There is really no way I can solve the problems I have

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Beaver, K.M., Vaughn, M.G., DeLisi, M. et al. The Neuropsychological Underpinnings to Psychopathic Personality Traits in a Nationally Representative and Longitudinal Sample. Psychiatr Q 83, 145–159 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11126-011-9190-2

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