The exploration of subclinical psychopathic subtypes and the relationship with types of aggression

Abstract

The psychopathy literature includes inconsistencies with regard to correlates, etiology, and treatment, suggesting heterogeneity within the construct. This paper used measures of psychopathy (the LPS primary and secondary), temperament (the BIS and BAS scales), and anxiety (STAI), in a model-based cluster analysis, and identified prototypes that somewhat resembled subclinical primary and secondary psychopathy in a college population. Variants matched theory in terms of psychopathy factors and anxiety, but there were some inconsistencies in terms of BIS and BAS. Despite these discrepancies, the current study found a theoretically consistent relationship between the clusters and types of aggression generally supporting the construct validity of the subclinical psychopathic clusters that emerged in this study; the primary psychopathic-like traits cluster utilized more instrumental/mixed aggression and the secondary psychopathic-like traits cluster reported more hostile/reactive aggression.