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Domestic violence and psychopathic traits: distinguishing the antisocial batterer from other antisocial offenders
Author(s) -
Swogger Marc T.,
Walsh Zach,
Kosson David S.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
aggressive behavior
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.223
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 1098-2337
pISSN - 0096-140X
DOI - 10.1002/ab.20185
Subject(s) - psychopathy , psychology , facet (psychology) , psychopathy checklist , antisocial personality disorder , impulsivity , poison control , domestic violence , injury prevention , human factors and ergonomics , recidivism , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , big five personality traits , personality , social psychology , medical emergency , medicine
The proliferation of specialized domestic batterer treatment programs suggests that batterers differ from other offenders in important ways. The psychopathic personality represents a constellation of personality traits, which may be relevant to the differentiation of batterers from other offenders. In a sample of 172 county jail inmates, we examined whether antisocial batterers can be distinguished from the larger pool of antisocial offenders on the basis of the four‐facet model of psychopathy identified for the Psychopathy Checklist‐Revised (PCL‐R). Batterer/non‐batterer status was positively related to the PCL‐R affective facet and negatively related to the lifestyle facet, but there was no significant relationship between PCL‐R total scores and this criterion. Results suggest that antisocial batterers are characterized by deficient affective experience and by reduced impulsivity and irresponsibility compared with other antisocial offenders. Implications are discussed in light of specialized treatments for batterers. Aggr. Behav. 33:1–8, 2007. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.