title: Is low anxiety part of the psychopathy construct?
abstract: Low anxiety has traditionally been considered a feature of psychopathy, but there has been mixed research support for this conceptualization. We investigated the PPI-R-SF Stress Immunity subscale (a measure of low anxiety) in relation to 2 widely used self-report psychopathy scales in a sample of 346 undergraduate students. Results indicated that PPI-R-SF Stress Immunity was nearly unrelated to other indicators of psychopathy, showing a near-zero loading on the common psychopathy factor defined jointly by the scales of the PPI-R-SF and SRP-III. Stress Immunity also showed a pattern of personality and temperament correlates much different from those of other psychopathy subscales. Finally, Stress Immunity had a slight negative correlation with self-reports of diverse antisocial acts. These results suggest that despite its historical importance in the conceptualization of psychopathy, low anxiety is likely not a core feature of psychopathy.
authors.affiliation: Brock University. bethvisser@trentu.ca
authors.forename: Beth A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Visser
authors.forename: Michael C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ashton
authors.forename: Julie A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Pozzebon
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011594:Psychometrics; D057566:Self Report