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Psychopathic Traits in Females and Males across the Globe
Author(s) -
Neumann Craig S.,
Schmitt David S.,
Carter Rachel,
Embley Iva,
Hare Robert D.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
behavioral sciences and the law
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.649
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1099-0798
pISSN - 0735-3936
DOI - 10.1002/bsl.2038
Subject(s) - psychopathy , facet (psychology) , psychology , structural equation modeling , confirmatory factor analysis , demography , measurement invariance , clinical psychology , developmental psychology , big five personality traits , social psychology , statistics , personality , mathematics , sociology
The current study examined the prevalence and structure of psychopathic traits in females and males using a very large world sample ( N = 33,016, females = 19,183). Psychopathic traits were assessed with the Self‐Report Psychopathy (SRP) scale, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to test the four‐factor model of psychopathy (interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, antisocial) both in the total sample and in the separate samples of females and males. Multi‐sample confirmatory factor analysis was used to test for invariance of model parameters across sex as well as across females from different world regions. Inferential statistics were used to examine how the mean‐level average of the four SRP facets varied as a function of culture and sex. Finally, the SRP data were linked to objective world health data (e.g., mortality, fertility, gross domestic product) from relevant world regions. The results indicated good support for the four‐factor model, as well as invariance across sex and reasonably good evidence of invariance across females from different world regions. Variation in the elevation of SRP facet scores across major world regions suggested that cultural factors moderated the expression of the level of psychopathic propensities and that these traits were strongly correlated with the world health data. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.