The relationships between psychopathic personality traits, impulsivity, anxiety, and sensation seeking

A large body of literature suggests that impulsivity is a major risk factor for the development of antisocial behaviour and is a core component of the behavioural aspect of secondary psychopathy. The key aim of the current study was to contribute to the conceptualisation of impulsivity in relation to the psychopathy construct. To facilitate this aim the interaction between impulsivity and anxiety was investigated to determine how this interaction impacts on psychopathic personality traits. A further aim of the current study was to examine the relationships between psychopathic personality traits, impulsivity, anxiety, and sensation seeking in a community sample. The sample was composed of 107 participants of whom 83 were females and 24 were males, the average age was 24.41 (SD = 7.14) years. Participants completed a battery of self-report psychological measures that assessed impulsivity, anxiety, primary and secondary psychopathy and sensation seeking behaviour. The results indicated that the interaction between impulsivity and anxiety does influence psychopathic personality traits and that the effect of this differs depending on the psychopathic personality trait investigated. Furthermore, the different effect that this interaction has on the psychopathic personality traits may be influential in determining the form that antisocial behaviour takes within the psychopathy construct.