Sex differences between primary and secondary psychopathy, parental bonding, and attachment style.

Abstract

Sex differences in primary and secondary psychopathic traits and behaviors are consistently evidenced, although less is known about the developmental trajectories of these differences and why they might arise. In this study (N = 362) we investigated whether men and women reporting higher levels of primary or secondary psychopathic traits differed in retrospective accounts of how cold and controlling both their mother and father were during childhood, and how anxious and avoidant they are about contemporary relationships. Primary psychopathic traits in men related to controlling mothers and avoidant attachment, whereas in women they related to uncaring fathers and both anxious and avoidant attachment. Secondary psychopathic traits in men were predicted by uncaring mothers and fathers, as well as anxious attachment, whereas in women, neither parental bonding nor attachment style were related. Results are discussed from an evolutionary, life history theory paradigm.