Personality Disorder Features and Paraphilic Interests Among Undergraduates: Differential Relations and Potential Antecedents

Abstract

We examined the relations between: (1) narcissism, psychopathy, DSM-5 personality disorder symptom counts; and (2) paraphilic interests among undergraduates (N = 608). Base rates of paraphilic interests were appreciable. The disinhibition and meanness features of psychopathy and the entitlement and exploitativeness features of narcissism were robustly associated with paraphilic interests, particularly sexual sadism, whereas the boldness features of narcissism and psychopathy were essentially unrelated to these interests. Narcissism and psychopathy features typically manifested the most pronounced relations with paraphilic interests, although antisocial personality disorder features were also strong predictors. By and large, these relations were comparable across gender. Lastly, there was no evidence that erotophilia mediated the relations between the narcissism and psychopathy features and paraphilic interests, most likely because erotophilia was generally unrelated to paraphilic interests. Relative to other dimensions of personality disorders, facets of meanness and disinhibition from psychopathy and entitlement/exploitativeness facets from narcissism were most associated with paraphilic interests.

Psychopathic Traits and Deviant Sexual Interests: The Moderating Role of Gender

“…Of note, some prior studies have reported significant associations between higher levels of psychopathy and greater sexual interests for uncommitted, impersonal, and sadomasochistic or otherwise deviant elements (Baughman et al, 2014;Skovran et al, 2010;Visser et al, 2015;Watts et al, 2017b;Williams et al, 2009). Skovran et al (2010) found that sex offenders who met the diagnostic criteria for psychopathy (i.e., PCL-R scores !25) reported greater levels and a greater variety of deviant sexual fantasies compared to non-psychopathic sex offenders.…”

“…Psychopathy; sexual deviance; sexual fantasies; gender differences; paraphilia Understanding sexual deviance has historically been a difficult endeavor, partly due to controversies in the very definition of sexual deviance (Bartels & Gannon, 2011;Laws & O'Donohue, 2008). These definitional issues have likely hampered the study of the etiology and correlates of sexual deviance, which is crucial to understand sexual deviance and to refine prevention and intervention programs (Watts, Nagel, Latzman, & Lilienfeld, 2017b). Overall, a common criterion for sexual deviance concerns the unusual nature of the source of arousal, either in terms of anomalous activity (e.g., voyeurism) or in terms of anomalous targets (e.g., pedophilia) (Feierman & Feierman, 2000;Leitenberg & Henning, 1995;Williams, Cooper, Howell, Yuille, & Paulhus, 2009).…”

“…As in the case of deviant sexual behavior, understanding the correlate of deviant sexual interests may provide important insights into their possible causes (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005;Watts et al, 2017b; but see Joyal, Cossette, & Lapierre, 2015, for a more csautious view). Recent studies on the nature and correlates of deviant sexual fantasies and interests have proposed that personality traits and disorders may represent one such avenue of research (Bartels & Gannon, 2011;Watts et al, 2017b).…”

“…As in the case of deviant sexual behavior, understanding the correlate of deviant sexual interests may provide important insights into their possible causes (Hanson & Morton-Bourgon, 2005;Watts et al, 2017b; but see Joyal, Cossette, & Lapierre, 2015, for a more csautious view). Recent studies on the nature and correlates of deviant sexual fantasies and interests have proposed that personality traits and disorders may represent one such avenue of research (Bartels & Gannon, 2011;Watts et al, 2017b). Very few studies have investigated associations between personality traits and deviant sexual interests (Curnoe & Langevin, 2002;Skovran, Huss, & Scalora, 2010;Watts et al, 2017b;Williams et al, 2009), yet they provided some initial evidence that psychopathic personality may be an important correlate of deviant sexual interests (for a review, see Bartels & Gannon, 2011).…”

“…In addition, studies based in the general population can more easily allow the recruitment of larger samples, and the inclusion of more female participants, who are typically underrepresented in forensic and prison settings (Klein Tuente, de Vogel, & Stam, 2014). This seems particularly important because prior studies have been somewhat inconsistent about the similarities and differences in the nomological network surrounding psychopathy across gender (e.g., Sellbom, Donnelly, Rock, Phillips, & Ben-Porath, 2017), including the associations with deviant sexual interests (Watts et al, 2017b).…”