The differential association between alexithymia and primary versus secondary psychopathy

Understanding empathy deficits and emotion dysregulation in psychopathy: The mediating role of alexithymia

Psychopathy is a severe personality disorder marked by a wide range of emotional deficits, including a lack of empathy, emotion dysregulation, and alexithymia. Previous research has largely examined these emotional impairments in isolation, ignoring their influence on each other. Thus, we examined the concurrent interrelationship between emotional impairments in psychopathy, with a particular focus on the mediating role of alexithymia. Using path analyses with cross-sectional data from a community sample (N = 315) and a forensic sample (N = 50), our results yielded a statistically significant mediating effect of alexithymia on the relationship between psychopathy and empathy (community and forensic) and between psychopathy and emotion dysregulation (community). Moreover, replacing psychopathy with its three dimensions (i.e., meanness, disinhibition, and boldness) in the community sample revealed that boldness may function as an adaptive trait, with lower levels of alexithymia counteracting deficits in empathy and emotion dysregulation. Overall, our findings indicate that psychopathic individuals' limited understanding of their own emotions contributes to their lack of empathy and emotion dysregulation. This underscores the potential benefits of improving emotional awareness in the treatment of individuals with psychopathy.

Effects of Alexithymia on Moral Decision-Making in Sacrificial Dilemmas: High Alexithymia is Associated with Weaker Sensitivity to Moral Norms

Purpose

Although several studies have investigated the association between alexithymia and moral decision-making in sacrificial dilemmas, the evidence remains mixed. The current work investigated this association and how alexithymia affects moral choice in such dilemmas.

Methods

The current research used a multinomial model (ie, CNI model) to disentangle (a) sensitivity to consequences, (b) sensitivity to moral norms, and (c) general preference for inaction versus action irrespective of consequences and norms in responses to moral dilemmas.

Results

Higher levels of alexithymia were associated with a greater preference for utilitarian judgments in sacrificial dilemmas (Study 1). Furthermore, individuals with high alexithymia showed significantly weaker sensitivity to moral norms than did those with low alexithymia, whereas there were no significant differences in sensitivity to consequences or a general preference for inaction versus action (Study 2).

Conclusion

The findings suggest that alexithymia affects moral choice in sacrificial dilemmas by blunting emotional reactions to causing harm, rather than through increased deliberative cost-benefit reasoning or general preference for inaction.

Difficulties in facial emotion recognition: taking psychopathic and alexithymic traits into account

BACKGROUND

Alexithymic and psychopathic traits are closely associated, but distinct constructs. Both have been associated with facial emotion processing deficits reflecting empathy deficits, however the underlying mechanism contributing to these deficits is not well-understood.

METHODS

This study investigated facial emotion recognition performance in a non-clinical sample (N = 110) including both male and female participants, with varying levels of psychopathic and alexithymic traits. Facial emotion recognition was assessed using a computerized task, that presented different expressions depicting five emotional states (pain, fear, sadness, anger, happiness) and neutral expressions.

RESULTS

Results suggest that the high psychopathic traits group reported lower accuracy compared to the low psychopathic traits group, indicating a more generalized deficit in facial affect recognition, across all emotions. The alexithymic groups (high vs. low) on the other hand did not differ in their performance on the task for any of the emotions presented.

CONCLUSION

These findings add to the current body of research regarding face processing categorization deficits in relation to psychopathic and alexithymic traits and can inform prevention and intervention efforts that aim to facilitate facial emotion recognition in individuals with these personality traits.

Effects of Primary and Secondary Psychopathy on Deontological and Utilitarian Response Tendencies: The Mediator Role of Alexithymia

(1) Background: The purpose of this study is to provide more nuanced insights into the effects of sub-dimensional levels of psychopathy on moral dilemma judgments. To this end, this study examined the effects of primary and secondary psychopathy on utilitarian and deontological response tendencies. Moreover, this study also explored the mediating role of alexithymia as well as the moderating role of gender in these effects. (2) Methods: A total of 1227 participants were recruited through the online questionnaire service wjx.cn. After deleting unfinished questionnaires, the remaining 1170 participants were included in the final data analysis. Each participant completed a demographic information questionnaire, the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20, and six pairs of moral dilemmas. Descriptive and correlational analyses of study variables were conducted in SPSS 22.0. Mediation and gender difference analyses were conducted in AMOS 23.0. (3) Results: Primary psychopathy was negatively correlated with deontological response tendencies and uncorrelated with utilitarian response tendencies. By contrast, secondary psychopathy also correlated negatively with deontological response tendencies, but it correlated positively with utilitarian response tendencies. Mediation analysis revealed that alexithymia only mediated the relationship between secondary psychopathy and deontological response tendencies. Multi-group analysis revealed that there was no difference between females and males in the indirect effect model. (4) Conclusions: People with high primary psychopathy are less likely to reject harm in moral dilemmas. By contrast, people with high secondary psychopathy have high alexithymia, which causes them to be less concerned about avoiding harm, and they are more likely to maximize outcomes in moral dilemmas. These findings shed new light on the moral dilemma judgments of individuals with primary and secondary psychopathy.

Understanding Emotion Regulation and Humor Styles in Individuals with Callous-Unemotional Traits and Alexithymic Traits

Alexithymia is a personality trait which is characterized by impairments in identifying and describing emotions. Both psychopathic and alexithymic personality traits have been associated with impairments in emotion processing. This study aims to clarify the conceptual overlap between psychopathic traits (focusing on callous-unemotional traits) and alexithymic traits, with emotion regulation strategies and humor styles using a community sample. A battery of self-report measures was distributed through an online platform to 538 male and female participants between the ages of 18 to 65. Hierarchal linear regression analyses demonstrated that emotion regulation strategies were the strongest predictors and accounted for the largest variance of callous-unemotional traits and alexithymic traits. More specifically, expressive suppression arose as a positive predictor while cognitive reappraisal arose as a negative predictor for both personality traits. Aggressive humor (maladaptive) arose as a positive predictor while self-defeating humor (maladaptive) and affiliative humor (adaptive) arose as negative predictors for callous-unemotional traits. In contrast, self-defeating humor arose as a positive predictor for alexithymic traits while affiliative humor and self-enhancing humor arose as negative predictors. Findings indicate that there are similarities and differences between these personality traits. The implications regarding tailoring interventions that target specific deficits associated with each personality trait are discussed.

Fearless but anxious? A systematic review on the utility of fear and anxiety levels to classify subtypes of psychopathy

Psychopathic traits have been linked to anomalies in experiencing fear and anxiety. It remains unclear, however, to what extent fear and anxiety levels are useful parameters to effectively distinguish between subtypes of psychopathy. Therefore, we aimed to elucidate whether different psychopathic phenotypes (primary and secondary psychopathy) can be delineated based on fear/anxiety levels. To investigate associations between psychopathic traits and conscious experiences of fear and/or anxiety a systematic qualitative review of studies was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. Seventeen studies were included in the review. We found some evidence for attenuated fear/anxiety levels in primary psychopathy. In secondary psychopathy, the experience of fear/anxiety seemed rather intact. Moreover, primary psychopathy might be associated with a more positive appraisal of the conscious feeling of fear. We reason that consciously experienced fear and anxiety are distinctly related to primary and secondary psychopathy. Due to a lack of consistent and comprehensive operationalizations of fear and anxiety, however, conclusions about their potential to differentiate psychopathic subtypes should be drawn with caution.

Alexithymia Is Associated With Internalizing Disorders in a Clinical Adolescent Outpatient Sample

ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to investigate alexithymic traits in an adolescent clinical sample with internalizing and externalizing disorders. The study group consisted of 125 adolescents aged between 12 and 17 years who applied at our outpatient unit and diagnosed with an internalizing or externalizing disorder. The healthy control group consisted of 53 adolescents with no psychiatric disorder. All subjects fulfilled the Alexithymia Questionnaire for Children (AQC). Total AQC scores were higher in the study group than in the control group. When we divided the study group into two groups as internalizing and externalizing disorders, total AQC scores, AQC-difficulty identifying feelings, and AQC-difficulty describing feelings were significantly higher in the internalizing disorder group than in the externalizing disorder group. AQC-externally oriented thinking scores were significantly higher in the externalizing disorder group than in the internalizing disorder group. In future research, it would be useful to further increase understanding of alexithymia and its association with psychiatric disorders in adolescence.

The Nexus of the Dark Triad Personality Traits With Cyberbullying, Empathy, and Emotional Intelligence: A Structural-Equation Modeling Approach

This study set out to elucidate the complex suite of associations between the Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy), emotional intelligence, empathy, and cyberbullying, as the respective findings regarding this topic have been inconsistent. Studies preponderantly have relied on abbreviated Dark Triad measures that do not differentiate between its lower-order facets. Further, most extant studies have exclusively been based on female psychology undergraduates and have not accounted for known sex differences on the Dark Triad traits and cyberbullying, or for negative associations between cyberbullying and age. Therefore, this nexus of interrelations was investigated in a diverse community sample (N = 749). A structural equation-modeling approached was used to examine predictors of cyberbullying and to test for mediating relationships between lower-order Dark Triad facets and emotional intelligence and empathy. Multigroup models were applied to test for sex-specific patterns. Empathy did not predict cyberbullying, whereas emotional intelligence partly mediated the Dark Triad associations with cyberbullying among both sexes. Sex-specific patterns in the associations between Dark Triad traits and cyberbullying were particularly observed for the grandiose and vulnerable narcissism facets. Emotional intelligence appeared to buffer effects of grandiose narcissism on cyberbullying. Future research could fruitfully explore cyberbullies' profiles regarding primary and secondary psychopathy, sex differences in narcissism, and buffering effects of emotional intelligence. Further improvements regarding the measurement of dark personality traits are indicated as well.

Alexithymia, Prior Trauma, Alcohol Use, and Sexual Aggression Perpetration: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of a Moderated Mediation Model

In this study, we examined the relationships between prior trauma, alexithymia, and sexual aggression perpetration among 610 U.S. college students and 107 college students from the Philippines utilizing a cross-sectional retrospective design. We tested a moderated mediation model with alexithymia as the mediator between prior trauma and sexual aggression perpetration, and alcohol use as a moderator of the alexithymia-sexual aggression link. Moreover, given that cultural norms may influence these relationships, we also examined the structural invariance of the proposed moderated mediation model. Path analyses and multiple group analysis were used to examine the moderated mediation model, and examine model differences between samples. We did not find evidence for alexithymia as a mediator, but there was a significant interaction between alcohol use severity and alexithymia on sexual aggression perpetration across both samples. Alexithymia is a key variable in understanding the alcohol use-sexual aggression perpetration relationship. Clinical implications and recommendations for future research are also discussed.

Assessing alexithymia in forensic settings: Psychometric properties of the 20-item Toronto Alexithymia Scale among incarcerated adult offenders

BACKGROUND

Alexithymia is a trait involving difficulty identifying feelings (DIF), difficulty describing feelings (DDF) and externally orientated thinking (EOT). It is a risk factor for criminal behaviour. It is commonly assessed with the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), but the psychometrics of the TAS-20 have not been tested across the range of offender populations, and it has been suggested it might be unsuitable in incarcerated offenders.

AIM

To establish the psychometrics of the TAS-20 among incarcerated offenders.

METHODS

Factorial validity was examined using confirmatory factor analyses, and the invariance of this factor structure was tested against a published community sample. Reliability coefficients were calculated.

RESULTS

One hundred and forty six incarcerated offenders were recruited. The factor structure of the TAS-20 was invariant across the samples. The intended factor structure composed of DIF, DDF and EOT factors performed well overall (with a reverse-scored method factor added), but six EOT items had low factor loadings. The total scale score and DIF and DDF subscales had acceptable reliability, but EOT did not.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results suggest that the TAS-20 functions similarly in offender and community samples. Its total scale score, and DIF and DDF subscale scores can be used confidently, but the assessment of externally oriented thinking may not be adequate with this scale alone. In sum, the TAS-20 can facilitate robust assessment of alexithymia in closed criminal justice settings as well as in the wider community.

Construct Validity of the German Version of the Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised

Abstract. The Hare Psychopathy Checklist – Revised (PCL-R) is among the most well-established instruments for the assessment of psychopathy. The PCL-R is a 20-item observer rating instrument based on file review and a semi-structured interview. The current study aimed to investigate the validity of the German adaptation of the PCL-R, its factor structure, construct validity, and association with socially desirable responding in a sample of male offenders ( N = 118). A parcel model with four facets and two factors yielded excellent model fit. Convergent and discriminant validity were assessed based on correlational analyses, a multitrait-multimethod (MTMM) matrix, and a canonical correlation analysis (CCA) including measures of psychopathy, antisocial personality disorder (ASPD), global personality dimensions, alexithymia, and impulsivity. The MTMM matrix as well as substantial associations with self-reported psychopathic traits and observer ratings of ASPD indicated convergent validity. Correlational analyses revealed that Factor 1 of the PCL-R was associated with low neuroticism, whereas Factor 2 was associated with impulsivity as well as with low agreeableness and conscientiousness. The PCL-R total score and Factor 2 were negatively correlated with impression management. Overall, the current findings support the validity of the German adaptation of the PCL-R.

Disguised Emotion in Alexithymia: Subjective Difficulties in Emotion Processing and Increased Empathic Distress

Despite decades of speculation, many causal aspects that contribute to the heterogeneity of alexithymia still must be clarified. This study examined the extent of the alexithymia phenotype and its contribution to social function in the general population. In total, 200 participants (females = 111) completed the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), multiple self-reporting questionnaires measuring emotion intelligence, empathy, hostility and impulsivity, and the Reading the Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET). In the multivariate analysis, highly alexithymic individuals appeared to report subjective deficits in emotion recognition and regulation as well as increased impulsivity; however, their empathy skills were intact, and even the proneness to experiencing empathic distress with others' suffering was increased among alexithymic individuals. We also compared the clinical and behavioral manifestations of highly alexithymic male and female subjects to those of each gender control group. As a result, in contrast to their subjective self-reports of emotion processing impairment, the RMET performance appeared to be preserved in alexithymic females; however, highly alexithymic males showed actual deficits in the emotion identification task. Future research needs to further refine the constructs of alexithymia to incorporate the phenotypic changes in affected individuals in relation to measuring instruments, the extent of empathic distress, and gender.

Neuro-cognitive correlates of alexithymia in patients with circumscribed prefrontal cortex damage

Alexithymia has been extensively reported in studies of psychiatric patients. However, little attention has been paid regarding its occurrence in the context of patients with circumscribed prefrontal cortex lesions. Moreover, the neuro-cognitive impairments that lead to alexithymia remain unclear and limited numbers of studies have addressed these issues. The authors investigated the impact of prefrontal cortex lesions on alexithymia and its neuro-cognitive correlates in a population of 20 patients with focal frontal lesions, 10 patients with parietal lesions and 34 matched control participants. Alexithymia was screened using the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20) and executive functions were assessed using a large battery of executive tasks that address inhibition, flexibility and the planning process. Results showed that patients with prefrontal cortex damage showed significantly increased difficulty in facets of identifying feelings (DIF) and externally oriented thinking (EOT) on TAS-20, compared to parietal patients and control participants. Moreover, both correlation and regression analysis revealed that higher alexithymia levels on the three facets of TAS-20 were consistently but differentially associated with impairment in inhibition, flexibility and planning tasks for frontal patients and both control groups. These findings provide clinical evidence of the implication of prefrontal cortex damage and executive control in alexithymia. Our results were also discussed in the light of the cognitive appraisal concept as a mechanism involved in emotion episode processing. This study suggests that increased neuropsychological attention should be directed to the relation between the neuro-cognitive model of executive functions and cognitive appraisal theory in processing emotion.

Relationships Between Alexithymia and Psychopathy in Heroin Dependent Individuals

BACKGROUND

Psychopathy and substance use disorders are highly co-morbid and their co-occurrence is associated with higher severity of addictive behavior and increased risk of violent offending. Both substance use disorders and psychopathy are related to prominent impairments in emotion processing, which are also central features of alexithymia. The nature of the relationship between psychopathy and alexithymia is not well-understood and has been particularly understudied among substance dependent individuals.

AIM

Our goal was to evaluate the levels of psychopathy and alexithymia in a relatively homogeneous sample of heroin dependent individuals (HDIs) and healthy controls and to examine group differences in the pattern of associations between these constructs.

METHODS

We examined 62 participants (31 heroin dependent individuals and 31 healthy controls) with the Psychopathy Checklist: Screening version (PCL:SV, Hart et al., 1995) and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20, Bagby et al., 1994).

RESULTS

Heroin dependent individuals were characterized by higher levels of both psychopathy and alexithymia as compared to the control group. In addition, HDIs with higher levels of psychopathy reported more difficulties in identifying and verbalizing emotional states. In the heroin group, alexithymia was more strongly associated with the impulsive/antisocial characteristics (impulsivity, irresponsibility, antisocial behavior) than with the interpersonal/affective features of psychopathy (grandiosity, manipulativeness, lack of empathy, and remorse).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that alexithymia may be one potential mechanism linking psychopathy with opioid use disorders. The development of interventions targeting alexithymia could have significant applications in relapse prevention programs and psychotherapy of substance use disorders with concurrent psychopathy.

Alexithymia, body mass index and gestational diabetes in pregnant women - FinnBrain birth cohort study

OBJECTIVE

Overweight, obesity, and associated problems in metabolic health are an increasing public health concern. Personality traits and emotional processing styles may play a role in the regulation of food intake and reward. Alexithymia is a personality construct involving difficulties in identifying and expressing emotions and has been previously associated with eating disorders and metabolic problems. We examined associations between alexithymia dimensions, Body Mass Index (BMI) and gestational diabetes in pregnant women.

METHODS

The participants were 1660 pregnant women living in Finland from the FinnBrain Birth Cohort Study. We investigated the associations between alexithymia and its dimensions as measured by the Toronto Alexithymia Scale (TAS-20), overweight, and gestational diabetes. The effects of age, education, and depressive symptoms were controlled for using hierarchical regression analysis.

RESULTS

Alexithymic individuals had a higher prevalence of overweight compared to those with low or moderate levels of alexithymia (66.0% vs. 34.8%, OR 3.6, adjusted OR 3.6, CI95% 1.9-6.8, p < .001). The dimension of Externally Oriented Thinking (EOT) accounted for this association. Compared to the lowest quartile, women in the highest EOT quartile had a higher BMI (24.3 vs. 25.6, p < .001), and a higher prevalence of overweight [adjusted OR 1.94, CI95% 1.43-2.62, p < .001] and gestational diabetes [OR 1.75, CI95% 1.19-2.55, p = .005].

CONCLUSIONS

Alexithymia, and especially its dimension of EOT is associated with overweight and gestational diabetes in pregnant women. Future studies should clarify causality and examine potential mechanisms and associations with pregnancy outcomes and fetal health.

Addressing Evidence Linking Secondary Alexithymia to Aberrant Humor Processing

In this review, we explore current literature and assess evidence linking secondary (acquired) alexithymia to aberrant humor processing, in terms of their neurobiological underpinnings. In addition, we suggest a possible common neuropathological substrate between secondary alexithymia and deficits in humor appreciation, by drawing on neurophysiologic and neuroradiological evidence, as well as on a recent and unique single-case study showing the cooccurrence of secondary alexithymia and deficit in humor appreciation. In summary, what emerges from the literature is that the cortical midline structures, in particular the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the insular cortex, seem to play a crucial role in the expression of both alexithymia and defective humor processing, while though to a lesser extent, a right hemisphere and bilateral frontoparietal contribution becomes evident. Neurobiological evidence of secondary alexithymia and aberrant humor processing points to the putative role of ACC/mPFC and the insular cortex in representing crucial processing nodes whose damage may produce both the above clinical conditions. We believe that the association of secondary alexithymia and aberrant humor processing, especially humor appreciation deficit, and their correlation with specific brain regions, mainly ACG/mPFC, as emerged from the literature, may be of some heuristic importance. Increased awareness on this topic may be of aid for neurosurgeons when accessing emotion-relevant structures, as well as for neuropsychologists to intensify their efforts to plan evidence-based neurorehabilitative interventions to alleviate the deleterious effects of such interpersonal communication deficits.

Alexithymia as a Transdiagnostic Precursor to Empathy Abnormalities: The Functional Role of the Insula

Distorted empathic processing has been observed across multiple psychiatric disorders. Simulation theory provides a theoretical framework that proposes a mechanism through which empathy difficulties may arise. Specifically, introspection-centric simulation theory (IST) predicts that an inability to accurately interpret and describe internal affective states may lead to empathy difficulties. The purpose of this review is to synthesize and summarize an empirical literature suggesting that simulation theory provides insights into a cognitive and neurobiological mechanism (i.e., alexithymia and insula pathology) that negatively impacts empathic processing, in addition to how disruptions in these processes manifest across psychiatric disorders. Specifically, we review an emerging non-clinical literature suggesting that consistent with IST, alexithymia and associated insula pathology leads to empathy deficits. Subsequently, we highlight clinical research suggesting that a large number of disorders characterized by empathy pathology also feature alexithymia. Collectively, these findings motivate the importance for future work to establish the role of alexithymia in contributing to empathy deficits across clinical symptoms and disorders. The current review suggests that simulation theory provides a tractable conceptual platform for identifying a potential common cognitive and neural marker that is associated with empathy deficits across a wide array of diagnostic classes.

Taxometric Analysis of the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia: Further Evidence That Alexithymia Is a Dimensional Construct

Alexithymia is a clinically relevant personality construct characterized by difficulties identifying and describing feelings, externally oriented thinking, and impoverished imaginal processes. Previous taxometric investigations provided evidence that alexithymia is best conceptualized as a continuous dimension rather than a discrete type, at least when assessed with the self-report 20-Item Toronto Alexithymia Scale. The aim of the current study was to test the categorical versus dimensional structure of alexithymia using the recently developed Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia. Three nonredundant taxometric procedures (MAXCOV, MAMBAC, and L-Mode) were performed on the Toronto Structured Interview for Alexithymia subscale scores from a multinational sample of 842 adults. All taxometric procedures produced unambiguously dimensional solutions, providing further evidence that the core alexithymia features are continuously distributed in the population. Discussion focuses on the theoretical, assessment, and clinical implications of these findings for the alexithymia construct.

Dissecting empathy: high levels of psychopathic and autistic traits are characterized by difficulties in different social information processing domains

Individuals with psychopathy or autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can behave in ways that suggest lack of empathy towards others. However, many different cognitive and affective processes may lead to unempathic behavior and the social processing profiles of individuals with high psychopathic vs. ASD traits are likely different. Whilst psychopathy appears characterized by problems with resonating with others' emotions, ASD appears characterized by problems with cognitive perspective-taking. In addition, alexithymia has previously been associated with both disorders, but the contribution of alexithymia needs further exploration. In a community sample (N = 110) we show for the first time that although affective resonance and cognitive perspective-taking are related, high psychopathic traits relate to problems with resonating with others' emotions, but not cognitive perspective taking. Conversely, high ASD traits relate to problems with cognitive perspective-taking but not resonating with others' emotions. Alexithymia was associated with problems with affective resonance independently of psychopathic traits, suggesting that different component processes (reduced tendency to feel what others feel and reduced ability to identify and describe feelings) comprise affective resonance. Alexithymia was not associated with the reduced cognitive perspective-taking in high ASD traits. Our data suggest that (1) elevated psychopathic and ASD traits are characterized by difficulties in different social information processing domains and (2) reduced affective resonance in individuals with elevated psychopathic traits and the reduced cognitive perspective taking in individuals with elevated ASD traits are not explained by co-occurring alexithymia. (3) Alexithymia is independently associated with reduced affective resonance. Consequently, our data point to different component processes within the construct of empathy that are suggestive of partially separable cognitive and neural systems.

A Behavioral Genetic Analysis of Alexithymia and the Dark Triad Traits of Personality

The present study is the first to assess phenotypic correlations between alexithymia and the Dark Triad traits of personality in a community sample, as well as the common genetic and environmental factors underlying these correlations. Participants were 232 North American adult twin pairs who completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, the MACH-IV, and the Toronto Alexithymia Scale. Results revealed that alexithymia correlates significantly and positively with psychopathy and Machiavellianism, and negatively with narcissism. Subsequent bivariate behavioral genetic analysis demonstrated that these phenotypic correlations were primarily attributable to common genetic and common non-shared environmental factors. The implication of these findings regarding the maladaptive functions of alexithymia within the antisocial realm of behavior and the need for replication are discussed.

Impact of adverse life events on individuals with low and high schizotypy in a nonpatient sample

The aims of this study were to gain a better understanding of adverse life events connected with the development of schizotypal personality traits and, also, to examine whether subclinical schizotypy has a relationship with vulnerability to traumatic intrusions and avoidance. In a cross-sectional design, 198 undergraduate students completed the Oxford-Liverpool Inventory of Feelings and Experiences (O-LIFE), the Impact of Event Scale (IES), and Paykel's Life Events Scale, together with other relevant scales. The number of adverse life events was significantly related to overall schizotypy measured by O-LIFE scores and positive schizotypy measured by the Unusual Experiences (UnEx) subscale. The subjective severity of life events was significantly related to Cognitive Disorganization (CogDis). Measures of positive schizotypy (UnEx and CogDis) were significantly related to the scores on the IES and on the intrusion and avoidance subscales, too. Adverse life events are associated with schizotypal personality traits, which contribute to a tendency for traumatic intrusions, even in a nonpatient sample.