Elucidating the Complex Associations between Psychopathy and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from the Perspective of Trait Negative Affectivity

Abstract

The current study examined associations between psychopathy, its two facets of fearless-dominance and impulsive-antisociality, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. It was hypothesized that the psychopathy facets would show respective differential negative and positive associations with PTSD symptoms; in turn, these associations were expected to be fully accounted for by negative affectivity. In a sample of 481 university students, psychopathy traits were differentially associated with PTSD symptoms as expected. Using structural equation modeling, it was found that negative affectivity explained 76% of the shared variance for PTSD and impulsive-antisociality; it accounted for 80% of the observed negative association between PTSD and fearless-dominance.