Are Youth Psychopathic Traits Related to Bullying? Meta-analyses on Callous-Unemotional Traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity

Abstract

In the current manuscript meta-analyses are performed to analyze the relations between three aspects of psychopathy in youth, Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity, and bullying behaviors. The databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC, Web of Science and Proquest were searched for relevant articles on bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, or Impulsivity in youth under 20 years of age. Two authors each independently screened 842 studies that were found in the literature search. Two authors independently coded ten studies on bullying and CU (N = 4115) traits, six studies on bullying and Narcissism (N = 3376) and 14 studies on bullying and Impulsivity (N = 33,574) that met the inclusion criteria. Significant correlations were found between bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity. These results were not affected by publication bias. Anti-bullying interventions could potentially benefit from including elements that have been found effective in the treatment of youth psychopathy.

Does peer victimization predict low self-esteem, or does low self-esteem predict peer victimization? Meta-analyses on longitudinal studies

“…Recent meta-analyses on cross-sectional studies (Van Geel, Goemans, & Vedder, 2016;Van Geel, Toprak, Goemans, & Vedder, 2017) and a meta-analysis on the relation between peer victimization and depression later in life (Ttofi et al, 2011) suggest that adverse mental health outcomes of bullying are worse for younger than for older children. It is not clear why younger children would suffer more from peer victimization.…”

“…With regards to peer and self-reports several meta-analyses have pointed out that effect sizes in studies about peer victimization tend to be stronger in studies using only self-reports (Hawker & Boulton, 2000;Van Geel et al, 2017). A likely explanation for these larger effect sizes is 'same-method variance', an inflated effect size because of the reliance on a single reporter for both risk factor and outcome (Hawker & Boulton, 2000).…”

Dark Triad and Counterproductive Work Behaviors: Which of the Dark Triad Traits is More Malevolent

“…On the other hand, generally psychopaths are aggressive, impulsive, and have lack of empathy. In previous research, psychopathy was positively associated with conflict (Boddy, 2014), bullying (Van Geel et al, 2017), abusive supervision (Boddy, 2010) in the workplace. Therefore it is expected that they will apply CWBs in their organizations and the hypothesis is postulated as follows;…”

Bullying Perpetration and Narcissistic Personality Traits across Adolescence: Joint Trajectories and Childhood Risk Factors

“…Bullying has been associated with traits related to childhood impulsivity and a lack of inhibitory control or conscientiousness [e.g., (21,41)]. Evidence also links bullying with lower emotional distress such as a lack of anxiety or fear [e.g., (42,43)], and a lack of empathic concern for others (44,45). Difficulty with emotion regulation such as suppressing anger or frustration has also been linked with bullying (46).…”