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

1. What mechanisms might operate to create gender
   differences in psychopathy? (or in PD generally)
2. 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