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Introduction: Why are women (not) romantically attracted to dark personalities or villains, which might be a risk factor for intimate partner violence (IPV) victimization? In the current study, it is opted to investigate how adult attachment, maladaptive personality traits, and acceptance of couple violence in women predict romantic attraction to heroic/villainous characters using structural equation modeling (SEM). Method: First, a pilot study was conducted in 122 heterosexual women (aged 16–25) to select male TV characters. This resulted in the selection of six villains and 10 heroes for the main study, in which 194 other heterosexual women (aged 16–25) were asked to rate the pictures of TV characters through an online questionnaire. This was combined with self-report measures of maladaptive personality traits, acceptance of couple violence, and adult attachment. These variables were entered into a SEM model to assess model fit. Results: Overall, women rated heroes higher on physical appearance (pilot study) and romantic attraction (main study) compared to villains. We found different direct effects of avoidant (negative) and anxious (positive) attachment styles on romantic attraction to heroes. Moreover, maladaptive personality traits fully mediated the positive effect of avoidant attachment style on romantic attraction to villains. Discussion: Despite the limitations of the study design (e.g., low N, low notoriety of the TV characters), this study emphasizes that women are generally more romantically attracted to heroes (vs. villains). Besides, there are different predictors of romantic attraction to heroes and villains, which requires further investigation, especially in the context of IPV.

Forensic healthcare workers deal with patients with severe psychiatric and behavioral problems that put them at an increased risk of developing work-related stress and burnout. Working with this target group of patients during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic with far-reaching restrictive measures can negatively affect the psychological well-being of forensic workers. Research suggests that resilience can buffer workplace stress and contribute positively to psychological well-being. However, research on resilience, psychological well-being and work-related stress among forensic healthcare workers is still lacking. Therefore, in this study, we investigated the interrelations between psychological well-being and resilience on the one hand and work-related stress and Covid-19 fear-related symptoms on the other hand. Self-report data were obtained from 318 healthcare workers (73.9% women) working in three Forensic Psychiatric Centers (M age = 44.20, SD = 14.31) and are in direct contact with forensic patients. The data were analyzed using network analysis. Consistent with previous research, the results showed that workplace stress and fear associated with the Covid-19 pandemic can be detrimental to workers' psychological well-being, while resilience can serve as a protective factor against being personally attacked or threatened by patients at the workplace. Last but not least, we identified highly central symptoms, namely tremors due to the fear of the coronavirus and anxiety when other people coughing, which would be the best candidates for future treatment targets. This knowledge can help clinicians optimize interventions to reduce workplace stress and fear due to the pandemic. Future studies should aim to replicate our findings in a larger and more representative sample of forensic healthcare workers.