Distrustful,Conventional,Entitled,and Dysregulated: PID-5 Personality Facets Predict Hostile Masculinity and Sexual Violence in Community Men

Abstract

Psychopathy and narcissism are known predictors of sexual violence, but they are broad personality constructs with limited utility in intervention and prevention efforts. The Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5) assesses 25 specific personality facets residing in five higher order domains. The goal of this research was to test the PID-5 in a sexual aggression model, which also included hostile masculinity, juvenile delinquency, and five sexual assault indices. A nationwide sample of adult men (N = 512) completed the online survey. Hostile masculinity and juvenile delinquency were expected to have direct paths to sexual violence in a structural equation model. Hostile masculinity was also hypothesized as a mediator between sexual violence and PID-5 facets related to narcissism and psychopathy. These hypotheses were largely supported. Overall, 29.5% of men reported perpetrating sexual violence at least once, and 24.2% reported multiple assaults. In the sexually violent sample, 45.7% endorsed completed rape as their most severe act. PID-5 Suspiciousness, Cognitive and Perceptual Dysregulation, Grandiosity, and a lack of Eccentricity emerged as indirect predictors of sexual violence. These PID-5 facets were mediated by hostile masculinity, which had a reliable path to sexual violence. Juvenile delinquency had a direct and indirect path to sexual assault. The model accounted for 48% of the variance in latent sexual violence, and the five sexual violence index R²s ranged from .53 to .82. This research adds specificity to sexual violence models by demonstrating the underlying maladaptive personality trait structures associated with sexual assault. It also provides a more precise personality profile for clinical use and prevention programs.