Harsh environment facilitates psychopathy's involvement in mating-parenting trade-off

Abstract

Previous research has suggested that psychopathy may be involved in mating-parenting trade-off; furthermore, a harsh environment could facilitate this trade-off in psychopathy. We integrated these two hypotheses into a single research design. We hypothesized that psychopathy elevated mating but decreased parenting effort; in addition, we predicted that these associations were more pronounced in a harsh environment. We tested these hypotheses in a community sample of individuals who have children (N = 320). We measured harsh environment in childhood, psychopathy traits (Meanness, Boldness and Disinhibition); mate seeking, the duration of longest partner relationship, the onset of sexual behavior (as indicators of mating effort) and care for children (as a measure of parenting effort). The results showed that psychopathic individuals had earlier onset of sexual behavior, shorter partner relationships, and invested more in seeking new partners but had lower parental effort. Furthermore, significant interactions between the Meanness trait and childhood environmental harshness were found in predicting these outcomes: individuals higher in Meanness who lived in a harsh environment had especially high mate seeking, shorter relationships and lower parental effort. Findings have high heuristic power because they reveal two evolutionary mechanisms which maintain inter-individual variation in psychopathy: adaptive trade-offs and harsh environment as an extrinsic state condition.