Psychosocial factors in the development of secondary psychopathy: Distinct gender patterns

Hrnčević, Sanja. (2016). Psychosocial factors in the development of secondary psychopathy: Distinct gender patterns. Diploma Thesis. Filozofski fakultet u Zagrebu, Department of Psychology. [mentor Jokić-Begić, Nataša].

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Abstract

Psychopathy is a disorder characterized by a variety of specific affective, interpersonal and behavioral traits such as superficial charm, pathological lying, lack of remorse or guilt, shallow affect, callous lack of empathy, parasitic lifestyle, lack of realistic longterm goals, impulsivity etc. It is assumed that based on etiology and motivation for behavior a distinction between primary and secondary psychopathy can be made. Primary psychopaths are born with an emotional deficit, whereas secondary psychopaths acquire an emotional disturbance in response to such adverse environmental experiences as parental rejection and abuse. The objective of this study was to acquire a better understanding of various psychosocial etiological factors (troublesome school behavior, early deviant behavior, childhood abuse and neglect) which contribute to the development of secondary psychopathy taking in consideration gender specificities. An online survey was conducted on 1022 participants from a community sample. Results have shown that men score significantly higher than women on the scales of both primary and secondary psychopathy. In addition, a distinct contribution of etiological factors in predicting the development of secondary psychopathy can be observed based on gender. Troublesome school behavior and early deviant behavior serve as significant predictors for secondary psychopathy in the male sample. The female sample differs in having an additional factor of childhood abuse and neglect as a significant predictor. Practical implications of such results include coming up with and carrying out prevention programs for children with the risk of developing psychopathy.

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