Psychopathy and its relation to personality psychopathology in a South African female forensic context

Abstract

There is a paucity of research about personality pathology among female offenders. This study aims to address this gap in the forensic psychology empirical base by examining the relationship between female psychopathy, as measured by the Psychopathy Checklist–Revised, and personality disorders, as measured by the Millon Clinical Multiaxial Inventory-III in a South African forensic context. Participants included 108 purposively sampled female offenders incarcerated in South Africa. The Kruskal–Wallis H test and Mann–Whitney U test revealed a number of significant differences in levels of personality pathology between groups. Importantly, the results support international findings that significantly higher rates of Cluster B personality pathology are found among psychopathic offenders compared to non-psychopathic offenders.

Agreeableness, antagonism, and mental health across cultures

“…In Norway, the rate is 10 times lower than in the United States; only severe offenders are imprisoned, and nearly half the prison population meets criteria for psychopathy (Sullivan & Kosson, 2006). A recent study of incarcerated women in South Africa also found psychopathy to be particularly associated with Cluster B PDs (Botha, Louw, & Loots, 2017).…”

Morality, self-control, age, type of offence and sentence length as predictors of psychopathy amongst female incarcerated offenders in South Africa

“…Although focused predominantly on male offenders, research underscores the relationship between personality disorders, particularly psychopathy, and offending behaviour [8][9][10][11]. Worldwide, psychopathy rates among incarcerated female offenders range from 9 to 15.5%, contrasting with approximately 31% in males [9,[12][13][14].…”

“…Levenson et al [18] distinguish between primary and secondary dimensions of psychopathy, with primary focusing on selfish, uncaring, and manipulative attitudes and secondary emphasizing impulsivity and a self-defeating lifestyle. Previous research links psychopathy to antisocial and offending behaviours [19][20][21], particularly violent, serious and chronic offences [8,11,21]. Female offenders in South Africa commonly engage in economic, aggressive, and violent offences [2,4,8,22] with environmental variables (i.e., poverty) [8,23], social factors (i.e., social exclusion and lack of policing) [11,24] and the normalisation of violence [11,25] often cited as contributing factors.…”

“…Previous research links psychopathy to antisocial and offending behaviours [19][20][21], particularly violent, serious and chronic offences [8,11,21]. Female offenders in South Africa commonly engage in economic, aggressive, and violent offences [2,4,8,22] with environmental variables (i.e., poverty) [8,23], social factors (i.e., social exclusion and lack of policing) [11,24] and the normalisation of violence [11,25] often cited as contributing factors. Despite the increasing number of female offenders, research on the connection between psychopathy and offending behaviour, especially recidivism, remains crucial [8,21,26].…”

“…Female offenders in South Africa commonly engage in economic, aggressive, and violent offences [2,4,8,22] with environmental variables (i.e., poverty) [8,23], social factors (i.e., social exclusion and lack of policing) [11,24] and the normalisation of violence [11,25] often cited as contributing factors. Despite the increasing number of female offenders, research on the connection between psychopathy and offending behaviour, especially recidivism, remains crucial [8,21,26]. However, prevailing beliefs about female criminality and lower offending rates compared to males have marginalized the study of female offenders in mainstream psychopathy research [8,12,[27][28][29].…”