Facets of psychopathy in relation to potentially traumatic events and posttraumatic stress disorder among female prisoners: The mediating role of borderline personality disorder traits.

Abstract

Despite the high prevalence of trauma exposure in female prisoners, few studies have examined the link between psychopathy and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD)-or the potential mediating role of borderline personality disorder traits. Using a sample of incarcerated women, we identified differential associations across facets of psychopathy, as assessed via the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003), with potentially traumatic events (PTE) and symptoms of PTSD. Specifically, the Interpersonal and Affective facets were unrelated to both PTE and PTSD, while the Lifestyle and Antisocial facets were each associated with PTE and the Antisocial facet was uniquely associated with PTSD symptoms. Borderline personality disorder traits fully accounted for the association between the Antisocial facet and both PTE and PTSD, while the Lifestyle facet contributed incrementally to the prediction of PTE. The findings clarify linkages among psychopathy, trauma, PTSD, and borderline personality disorder traits, and extend our understanding of the clinical presentation of psychopathy in women.