Investigating psychopathic personality disorder in women

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Investigating psychopathic personality disorder
in women

• Mette Kreis, M.Sc.
• Postgraduate Research Student
• Glasgow Caledonian University
• Scottish Personality Disorder Network
• Workshop, Aberdeen, 29 May 2008

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Workshop outline

• Psychopathy and gender
• Introduction to the CAPP
• Interactive CAPP activity
• Presentation of research findings
• Questions and discussion

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Psychopathy and gender

• Background for PhD research

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Psychopathy
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Measuring psychopathy

• Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R Hare,
• 1991, 2003)
• 2 Factor model
• 3 Factor model (Cooke Michie)
• 4 Factor model(s)
• Psychopathy Checklist Screening
• Version (PCLSV Hart et al., 1995)

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Psychopathy in men
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Psychopathy in women
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Problems with PCL-R

• Mainly validated with male offenders
• Not content validated on women
• Different factor structure across gender
• Differential expression of some items
• PCL-R reliable with women?
• PCL-R valid with women?

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Forouzan Cooke (2005)

• No conceptual framework for women
• No measurement framework
• BACK TO BASICS!

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Introduction to the CAPP

• The Comprehensive Assessment of Psychopathic
  Personality (CAPP Cooke, Hart, Logan, Michie)

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Interactive CAPP activity
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• Match symptoms with domains
• Which symptoms do you feel are most relevant to
  psychopathy?
• Which (if any) do you feel are most relevant to
  psychopathy in men and in women?

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Presentation of research findings

• Prototypical analysis of psychopathy across
  gender

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Study aims

• Map domain of symptoms of
• psychopathy in women
• Content validate the CAPP across gender

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Flies
Wings
Feathers
BIRD
?
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Participants
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Measure

• 6) LACKS EMOTIONAL DEPTH
• How prototypical is this symptom of psychopathy?
  
• Low prototypicality High prototypicality
• 1 2 3 4 5 6
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• Is this symptom more prototypical of psychopathy
• IN MEN Equally
  prototypical IN WOMEN
• 1 2 3 4
  5 6 7

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Results General ratings
Lacks remorse
Self-justifying
Self-centred
Uncaring
Manipulative

Prototypical Psychopathy
Unempathic
Unreliable
Insincere
Deceitful
Self-aggrandizing
Sense of entitlement
Lacks emotional depth
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Results Gender differences
Self-aggrandizing (1.02) Sense of invulnerability
(.99) Domineering (.77) Reckless (.73) Aggressive
(.71)
Lacks emotional stability (.66) Unstable
self-concept (.60) Manipulative (.23)
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More emotionally unstable?
Sense of entitlement
Lacks emotional depth
Prototypical psychopathic woman?

Self-justifying
Self-centred
Uncaring
Unempathic
Deceitful
Lacks remorse
Manipulative
Insincere
Unreliable
More manipulative?
More unstable self-concept?
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What do the results mean?

• More men are psychopathic?
• Or are we just less able to recognise the
  disorder
• in women?
• Assessor gender bias?
• Men are aggressive, women are emotionally
• unstable
• Real gender differences in psychopathy?

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Conclusions

• CAPP promising tool for assessing
• psychopathy across gender
• More marked gender differences in
• manifestation of symptoms?
• Gender awareness in assessment of
• psychopathy is essential!

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Practical implications for assessing psychopathy
in women

• Do not expect to see the same presentation
• of psychopathy in women as in men
• Be aware of your own potential male
• psychopathy prototype bias
• For now, use assessment tools to aid
• formulation not diagnose!

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Questions and discussion
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Questions

• What mechanisms might operate to create gender
  differences in psychopathy? (or in PD generally)
• Why would psychopathy be different from other PDs
  in terms of gender differences? (Hare says it is!)

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Mette Kreis Glasgow Caledonian
University Psychology Department Cowcaddens
Road Glasgow, G4 0BA Tel [phone] Fax 0141
331 3636 mette.felbertkreis_at_gcal.ac.uk