Untangling Intelligence, Psychopathy, Antisocial Personality Disorder, and Conduct Problems: A Meta–Analytic Review

Abstract

Substantial research has investigated the association between intelligence and psychopathic traits. The findings to date have been inconsistent and have not always considered the multidimensional nature of psychopathic traits. Moreover, there has been a tendency to confuse psychopathy with other closely related, clinically significant disorders. The current study represents a meta‐analysis conducted to evaluate the direction and magnitude of the association of intelligence with global psychopathy, as well as its factors and facets, and related disorders (i.e. antisocial personality disorder, conduct disorder, and oppositional defiant disorder). Our analyses revealed a small, significant, negative relationship between intelligence and total psychopathy (r = −.07, p = .001). Analysis of factors and facets found differential associations, including both significant positive (e.g. interpersonal facet) and negative (e.g. affective facet) associations, further affirming that psychopathy is a multidimensional construct. Additionally, intelligence was negatively associated with antisocial personality disorder (r = −.13, p = .001) and conduct disorder (r = −.13, p = .001) but positively with oppositional defiant disorder (r = .06, p = .001). There was significant heterogeneity across studies for most effects, but the results of moderator analyses were inconsistent. Finally, bias analyses did not find significant evidence for publication bias or outsized effects of outliers. © 2019 European Association of Personality Psychology

Patterns of Psychopathology and Cognition in Sex Chromosome Aneuploidy

“…However, there is marked interindividual variability in IQ within all SCA groups [32][33][34], and it remains unclear how this is related to the co-occurring interindividual variation that has been described for psychopathology. Work in non-SCA groups suggests there can be complex correlations between clinical variation in IQ and psychopathology [35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45], but the few studies addressing this question in SCA have focused on individual domains of psychopathology [8], prompting the clinically important question of whether some psychiatric features are more strongly coupled to cognitive ability than others in SCA.…”

Comparing Psychopathy Traits and Behavioral Inhibition Among Smoker and Non-Smoker Teenage Students

“…Conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder are behavioral features of psychopathy disorder, and the disorder itself is a factor that plays a crucial role in adolescents and adults' tendency towards drugs (Melanko et al, 2009;Burke, Loeber, & Lahey, 2007;Gacono, Nieberding, Owen, Rubel, & Bodholdt, 2001;Frick, & Dickens, 2006;Sanchez de Ribera, Kavish, Katz, & Boutwell, 2019;Goulter, McMahon, Pasalich, & Dodge, 2019). Therefore, it can be concluded that high levels of psychopathic traits in adolescents can be considered as one of the critical factors that participate in the desire to smoke and nicotine addiction.…”

Comparing Psychopathy Traits and Behavioral Inhibition Among Smoker and Non-Smoker Teenage Students

“…Behaviorally, Fearless Dominance is associated with increased thrill and sensationseeking behavior (Ross, Benning, Patrick, Thompson, and Tarston, 2009). Conduct disorder and antisocial personality disorder are behavioral features of psychopathy disorder, and the disorder itself is a factor that plays a crucial role in adolescents and adults' tendency towards drugs (Melanko et al, 2009;Burke, Loeber, & Lahey, 2007;Gacono, Nieberding, Owen, Rubel, & Bodholdt, 2001;Frick, & Dickens, 2006;Sanchez de Ribera, Kavish, Katz, & Boutwell, 2019;Goulter, McMahon, Pasalich, & Dodge, 2019). Therefore, it can be concluded that high levels of psychopathic traits in adolescents can be considered as one of the critical factors that participate in the desire to smoke and nicotine addiction.…”