Students, sex, and psychopathy: Borderline and psychopathy personality traits are differently related to women and men's use of sexual coercion, partner poaching, and promiscuity

Primary psychopathy traits correlate with sexual coercion, mate poaching, and lack of relationship exclusivity, reflecting instrumental use of others to fulfil personal desires. These sexual behaviors can also be explained by sexual thrill-seeking/impulsivity, or striving for relationship intimacy through fear of abandonment. Given that impulsive thrill-seeking and rejection-avoidance are related to secondary psychopathy and Borderline Personality Disorder, respectively, this study is the first to consider the independent effects of psychopathic traits versus Borderline Personality Disorder traits on sexual behaviors in a non-clinical mixed sex university student (N = 187) sample. Results broadly support our sexual behavior dissociation hypothesis: Unique relationships were identified between primary psychopathy traits and use of non-violent sexual coercive tactics (for women), reduced relationship exclusivity terms, and increased likelihood of mate poaching, whereas Borderline Personality Disorder traits showed an independent relationship with increased likelihood of sexual coercion (for men) and having lost a partner through poaching. These opposite experiences of mate poaching, along with the unique association between psychologically manipulative sexual coercion and primary psychopathy, are considered here in terms of their ‘fit’ with clinical equivalents

Callous-unemotional traits moderate the relation between prenatal testosterone (2D:4D) and externalising behaviours in children

Children who exhibit callous-unemotional (CU) traits are identified as developing particularly severe forms of externalising behaviours (EB). A number of risk factors have been identified in the development of CU traits, including biological, physiological, and genetic factors. However, prenatal testosterone (PT) remains un-investigated, yet could signal fetal programming of a combination of CU/EB. Using the 2D:4D digit ratio, the current study examined whether CU traits moderated the relationship between PT and EB. Hand scans were obtained from 79 children aged between 5 and 6 years old whose parents completed the parent report ICU (Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits) and SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). CU traits were found to moderate the relationship between PT and EB so that children who were exposed to increased PT and were higher in CU traits exhibited more EB. Findings emphasize the importance of recognising that vulnerability for EB that is accompanied by callousness may arise before birth