When Your Beloved is a Psychopath. Psychopathic traits and social status in male-female relationships and sexual satisfaction.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2021.111175

Commentary

This study used a three-way psychopathology model to investigate the relationship between satisfaction and the effects of male psychopathology in a community sample of women (N = 1945).

They examined the association between psychopathological traits of male romantic partners and relationship satisfaction and sexual satisfaction as rated by female partners. A negative relationship was observed between male disinhibition, indicating that sneakiness was associated with female relationship and sexual satisfaction.

In addition, male boldness was positively correlated with perceptions of male social status and predicted higher female partner satisfaction.

Quantile regressions confirmed the unique relationships between satisfaction, psychopathological traits, and social status. These associations were stronger at lower levels of satisfaction, and interaction analysis showed that averageness enhanced the effects of de-inhibition and that boldness weakened the effects of de-inhibition and averageness on relationship satisfaction.

The results illustrated what can be identified as three different psychopathological traits that potentially have different effects on romantic relationships: the specificity of disinhibition, meanness, and boldness.