Psychopathy and intimate partner violence

"First published online: January 24, 2018"
Several studies found that psychopathy is an important predictor of criminal behavior in general and of intimate partner violence in particular. However, these conclusions are often based on scales with less well-established validity, and some inconsistent results have emerged with regard to the contribution of specific psychopathic facets to intimate partner violence. In a sample of 152 batterers from Portugal aged between 22 and 70 years old, we examined whether Psychopathy Checklist–Revised (PCL-R) total scores and the four facets (scored based on a semistructured interview and on file information) predicted the frequency of intimate partner violence. Two separate linear regression analyses were conducted controlling for criminal variables. PCL-R total scores positively predicted intimate partner violence frequency, above and beyond the criminal variables. As for the four facets, only the PCL-R affective facet held a significant effect in predicting intimate partner violence frequency after controlling for criminal variables. These results support the inclusion of psychopathy in risk assessments and treatment of perpetrators of intimate partner violence, particularly with regard to the affective deficits of the construct.
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This study was conducted at Psychology Research Center (UID/PSI/01662/2013), University of Minho, and supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology and the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education through national funds and cofinanced by European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) through COMPETE2020 under the PT2020 partnership agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007653). The study was also supported by Grant SFRH/BD/66110/2009 from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology awarded to the first author.