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The aim of this research (N = 268) was to explore several compelling candidates for the Dark Core of the broader set of dark and light traits by using network analysis and analyses of shared variance. Several previously proposed cores were tested: primary psychopathy, narcissistic rivalry, Honesty-Humility, Aggressiveness, Selfishness, Antagonism and its callousness facet as well as emotional competency, including its emotionality facet as negative aspect of callousness. The results showed that central elements in this network are primary psychopathy, callousness, pathological selfishness, Machiavellianism, and narcissistic rivalry. Furthermore, among basic traits, Antagonism shared the highest percentage with the dark traits, especially its facet callousness, which is the best candidate for the Dark Core. The combination of callousness, deceitfulness, and grandiosity shared 92% of the total common variance with dark traits and it could be seen as the Antagonistic Triad or alternative Dark Triad., Author(s): Bojana M. Dinic [sup.1] , Anja Wertag [sup.2] , Valentina Sokolovska [sup.3] , Aleksandar Tomasevic [sup.3] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.10822.39, 0000 0001 2149 743X, Department of Psychology, Faculty of [...]

Negative life events have been considered as a risk factor for depressive symptoms. This study aimed to explore whether resilience mediated the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms, and investigate whether psychopathy moderated the mediation model. Participants were recruited in Henan province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. Finally, 427 participants were included in the full analyses. Results showed the association between negative life events and depressive symptoms was partially mediated by resilience. Besides, the path between negative life events and resilience was moderated by psychopathy. That is to say, negative life events can predict lower level of resilience and further predict more depressive symptoms. In addition, high level of psychopathy, to some extent, can predict less depressive symptoms via buffering the effects of negative life events on resilience., Author(s): Yaoguo Geng [sup.1] , Jingjing Gu [sup.1] , Jiejing Yu [sup.1] , Xueli Zhu [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.207374.5, 0000 0001 2189 3846, School of Education, Zhengzhou University, , [...]

The presence of positive outcomes observed in some individuals with high psychopathic traits remains relatively unexplained. This study aimed at examining the contribution of specific adaptive psychopathic traits to the emergence of positive behavioral and psychopathological consequences. Participants were 2291 French college students who completed self-report questionnaires assessing negative and adaptive psychopathic traits and psychopathological variables. A cluster analysis based on the negative and adaptive psychopathic traits total scores yielded four distinct groups characterized by moderate negative traits and low adaptive traits (moderate negative psychopathic traits cluster; NP), low negative and adaptive traits (low traits cluster; LT), low negative traits and moderate adaptive traits (adaptive psychopathic traits cluster; AP) and high negative and adaptive traits (high traits cluster; HT). Comparisons between clusters suggested that adaptive psychopathic traits were associated with decreased levels of perceived stress, depression and suicidal ideation. However, the frequency of prosocial and antisocial behaviors was not affected by the presence of adaptive traits. Our results provide important information for assessment and treatment of the negative consequences of psychopathic traits., Author(s): Jonathan Bronchain [sup.1] [sup.2] , Henri Chabrol [sup.1] , Patrick Raynal [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.508721.9, Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches en Psychopathologie et Psychologie de la Santé, Université [...]

Writing in 2016, The New York Times columnist David Brooks described the perilous state of communal values in this country: The great challenge of our moment is the crisis of [...]

To link to full-text access for this article, visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.addbeh.2008.01.001 Byline: Mats Fridell (a), Morten Hesse (b), Mads Meier JA[bar]ger (c), Eckart Kuhlhorn (d) Keywords: Crime; Antisocial personality; Substance abuse; Amphetamine; Heroin; Prospective Abstract: Mixed findings have been made with regard to the long-term predictive validity of antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) on criminal behaviour in samples of substance abusers. A longitudinal record-linkage study of a cohort of 1052 drug abusers admitted 1977-1995 was undertaken. Subjects were recruited from a detoxification and short-term rehabilitation unit in Lund, Sweden, and followed through criminal justice registers from their first treatment episode to death or to the year 2004. In a ML multinomial random effects regression, subjects diagnosed with antisocial personality disorders were 2.16 times more likely to be charged with theft only (p Author Affiliation: (a) Department of Psychology, Lund University, Sweden (b) Centre for Alcohol and Drug Research, Aarhus University, Denmark (c) The Danish National Institute of Social Research, Denmark (d) SoRAD, Stockholm University, Sweden

Despite widespread pessimism about the responsiveness of such individuals toward traditional therapeutic approaches (Hare, 1999), individuals with this disability have been noted to respond positively to sanctions and incentives when [...]

Much remains to be learned about the adolescent outcomes of clinic-referred boys whose childhood conduct problems are serious enough to meet diagnostic criteria for conduct disorder (CD). Six structured diagnostic assessments were conducted over 7 years of 73 clinic-referred 7-12-year-old boys who met criteria for CD in Wave 1. There were substantial individual differences in the adolescent outcomes of CD, ranging from worsening to sustained recovery, with most boys showing persistent, but fluctuating levels of CD. Improvement in CD was not accounted for by treatment or incarceration, but more positive outcomes over Waves 2-7 were predicted prospectively with substantial accuracy, using a combination of baseline predictors: less initial severity of CD, fewer symptoms of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, higher child verbal intelligence, greater family socioeconomic advantage, and not having antisocial biological parents. KEY WORDS: conduct disorder; intelligence; socioeconomic status; antisocial personality disorder; longitudinal study.

Using prospective longitudinal data from the Christchurch Health and Development Study, this paper examines the extent to which early onset, life course persistent and adolescent limited antisocial behavior problems place young people at risk of violent and unsatisfactory romantic relationships in early adulthood. Results revealed the presence of clear linear associations between the developmental timing of antisocial behavior and later partnership risks, with these risks including partner violence perpetration and victimization, interpartner conflict, and increased ambivalence about the relationship. Young people with childhood onset antisocial behavior problems reported higher rates of partnership difficulties than young people with adolescent limited antisocial behavior problems, while those with adolescent limited antisocial behavior reported higher levels of partnership difficulties than young people without a history of antisocial behavior problems. These associations persisted even after extensive cont rol for a range of social, family, and individual factors that were correlated with the timing of antisocial behavior. Results highlight the importance of distinguishing between early and late onset antisocial behavior, and provide further support for existing life course models of the development of antisocial behavior problems in children and adolescents. KEY WORDS: antisocial behavior; childhood onset; life course persistent; adolescent limited; partner relations; partner violence; longitudinal study.

Mealey argued that sociopathy is an evolutionary stable strategy, subject to frequency-dependent selection--high levels of sociopathy being advantageous to the individual if population-wide frequencies of it are low, and vice versa. I argue that at least one alternative hypothesis exists that explains her data equally well. Alternative hypotheses must be formulated and tested before any theory can be validated.

BBS 18(3):523-99. Sociopaths are 'outstanding' members of society in two senses: politically, they draw our attention because of the inordinate amount of crime they commit, and psychologically, they hold our fascination because most of us cannot fathom the cold, detached way they repeatedly harm and manipulate others. Proximate explanations from behavior genetics, child development, personality theory; learning theory, and social psychology describe a complex interaction of genetic and physiological risk factors with demographic and micro environmental variables that predispose a portion of the population to chronic antisocial behavior. More recent, evolutionary and game theoretic models have tried to present an ultimate explanation of sociopathy as the expression of a frequency-dependent life strategy which is selected, in dynamic equilibrium, in response to certain varying environmental circumstances. This paper tries to integrate the proximate, developmental models with the ultimate, evolutionary ones, suggesting that two developmentaly different etiologies of sociopathy emerge from two different evolutionary mechanisms. Social strategies for minimizing the incidence of sociopathic behavior in modern society should consider the two different etiologies and the factors that contribute to them.