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Gender differences in a prototypical analysis of psychopathy.

Psychopathy research has focused primarily on characteristics of male offenders. With little empirical knowledge on psychopathy in women, gender differences within psychopathy are not well understood. To gain a better understanding of these differences, the current study used prototypical analysis to compare ratings of 242 forensic experts when considering their most representative case of male or female psychopathy. The present study investigated gender differences for psychopathic traits and Cluster B personality disorder criteria. Most aspects of psychopathy were less prototypical of female psychopaths than males. In particular, the antisocial behavior facet does not appear to apply to males and females equally. The distinction between Cluster B disorders and psychopathy was more ambiguous in females than males; however, the affective deficits facet differentiated psychopathy from Cluster B disorders across genders. Current research also raises the question of potential diagnostic gender bias in the assessment of psychopathy.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc5371
Date08 1900
CreatorsHazelwood, Lisa L.
ContributorsRogers, Richard, 1950-, Cox, Randall J., Sewell, Kenneth W.
PublisherUniversity of North Texas
Source SetsUniversity of North Texas
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeThesis or Dissertation
FormatText
RightsPublic, Copyright, Hazelwood, Lisa L., Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved.

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