Psychopathic traits, psychological resilience and coping with stress in socially maladjusted youth

The basic aim of the research was to analyze the associations between the traits of psychopathy in the triarchic model (boldness, meanness, disinhibition) and the level of psychological resilience and preferred style of coping with stress in the group of adolescents violating legal norms. The author assumes that the key symptoms in this relationship would be played by the symptoms of psychopathy included in the dimension of boldness.

The group of participants consisted of 111 girls and boys aged 16-18 years staying in youth correctional facilities. The Polish adaptation of the TriPM questionnaire was used to measure the severity of psychopathic traits in juveniles (Patrick, 2010, Pilch at al., 2015). The structure of psychological resilience and styles of coping with stress in the studied group were measured with the use of self-report methods: Skala Prężności Psychicznej/SPP-18 (Polish scale to measure resilience in children and adolescents, Ogińska-Bulik, Juczyński 2011) and the CISS questionnaire respectively.

The general level of psychological resilience proved to be a mediator between boldness and task-oriented coping style. Boldness as a component of psychopathy was also associated with all psychological resilience scales. The disinhibition dimension of psychopathy negatively correlated with psychological resilience and was associated with more frequent occurrence of an emotion-oriented stress coping style. There were differences between sexes observed in the severity of meanness and emotion-oriented coping in a stressful situation.

The research supports the treatment of psychopathy in youth as a complex and multidimensional construct. The data also confirm that certain features of psychopathy may be associated with indicators of good adaptation.