Components of Psychopathic Personality and Different Types of Crime : The Relationship among Meanness, Disinhibition and Violent- and Non-violent Crime

Sammanfattning: Meanness and Disinhibition are two components of psychopathic personality, conceptualized by the Triarchic Psychopathic Model (Tri-PM). Psychopathic personality traits are related to criminal behavior. There is however, little research on how meanness and disinhibition relate to violent crime and non-violent crime. Data were drawn from a sample of college students and prison inmates (N = 1,787 mean age = 26.8 years). Meanness, disinhibition, violent crime and non-violent crime was measured using the Externalizing Spectrum Inventory ([ESI] Krueger et al., 2007). The results indicated that meanness and disinhibition explained 61% of the variance in violent crime and 77% of the variance in non-violent crime. Disinhibition had a stronger relation to both violent crime and non-violent crime. There was also a small, but significant interaction effect of meanness and disinhibition on violent crime and non-violent crime. The results support the theoretical outlines of the Tri-PM. Implications from these findings are that the ESI and the Tri-PM can be used risk assessment tools and in work related to crime prevention. Future research should in addition to meanness and disinhibition also include boldness from the Tri-PM and more severe violent types of crime in order to examine how these traits relate to intentions of violent- and non-violent crime.