Aggression Turned Inward: A Review and Meta-Analysis of the Association Between Psychopathic Traits and Self-Directed Aggressive Behavior
Psychopathic traits have been significantly implicated in violence and aggression, at a massive cost to individuals and society. While psychopathy's association to aggressive behavior when directed at others has been studied at length and our understanding refined as a result, less is known about the relationship between psychopathic traits and aggression when directed at the self. Despite founding perspectives positing that psychopathy is negatively related to suicide, the empirical work that followed this early conceptualization of the construct indicates this is not consistently the case. Although some research has found support for psychopathic traits being negatively related to self-directed aggression, other work has yielded evidence of a positive relationship with forms of self-directed aggression like suicidality and nonsuicidal self-injury, and yet other studies have no relationship at all. This conflicting picture has been attributed to differences at the facet and factor levels of psychopathy, while other research points to the added impact of factors like age, gender, and co-occurring psychopathology. Evidently, psychopathy's association with self-directed aggression is a complex one, hence the value of a comprehensive examination of their relationship. The current study aimed to address this gap in the literature by empirically investigating the magnitude of the association between psychopathic traits and self-directed aggression using a systematic review and meta-analytic approach. Results revealed a small significant overall relationship (r = .10) between psychopathic traits and self-directed aggression. This association was substantially moderated by the psychopathy factors, with Factor 1/Primary Psychopathy unrelated to self-directed aggression (r = .02) and Factor 2/Secondary Psychopathy (r = .16) showing a significantly positive relationship. Moderator analyses further revealed the association between psychopathic traits and self-directed aggression depended on specific measurement and sample characteristics. Findings shed a more systematic light on the nature of psychopathy's link to self-directed aggression and its role as a potential, though likely not major risk factor for aggressing against the self. The insights derived from the current study have implications for our theoretical understanding of psychopathy and its relation to clinically important correlates like self-directed aggression and moreover, can aid in informing advances in clinical practice across key areas like risk evaluation, intervention, and prevention.
meta-analysis, psychopathic traits, review, self-directed aggression
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