Aggressiveness and the intensity of psychopathic symptoms - gender differences

The analysis of the recent international reports in the literature on psychopathy has proved irrefutablythat there is a necessity for the in-depth studies on psychopathy among the female sentenced offenders. Although there is no disagreement among the researchers on the 'male' form of this disorder, there are still very few gender comparative studies. The aim of this project was to investigate the relationship between the intensity of particular psychopathic features and aggressive tendencies in a group of female and male inmates.

100 incarcerated adult males and 100 incarcerated adult females were studied. To assess the intensity of the psychopathic features the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R; Hare, 2003) was used. Aggressive tendencies were measured using the self-reported Buss-Perry Aggression Questionnaire (AQ; Buss and Perry, 1992).

The analysis of variance showed that 12 out of the 20 PCL-R items differentiate indicators of aggressiveness at statistically significant level in the group of male and female prisoners.

The obtained data suggest that there are gender differencesin the manifestation of psychopathy-characteristic features. In both gender groups psychopathic deficiencies can be linked with aggressive behaviors.