597 - PREVALENCE OF PSYCHOPATHY IN A COMMUNITY SAMPLE OF SPANISH ADULTS: A REPLICATION AND VALIDATION

Session: D06S018 - Dynamics of Psychopathology 2
AUTHORS:
Sanz-García Ana (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Morán Noelia (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Gesteira Clara (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Roldán Laura (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Vallejo-Slocker Laura (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Garcìa Vera María Paz (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain) , Sanz Jesús (Universidad Complutense de Madrid ~ Madrid ~ Spain)
Abstract text:
The main objective of this work is to examine the prevalence of psychopathy in the general adult population from the main currently existing theoretical perspectives of psychopathy, using for this purpose the five-factor or Big Five model as a common language that allows the comparison and integration of the personality traits considered as defining psychopathy by these different perspectives. In our previous study (Sanz-García et al., 2022), we administered the NEO Personality Inventory-Revised (NEO PI-R) to a sample of 682 adults of the general Spanish population. We calculated the prevalence of clinical and subclinical psychopathy according to different definitions of these two constructs based on Hare's, Lilienfeld's, triarchic, and DSM-5-hybrid models, and the simultaneous presence of a minimum number of personality traits that differed from the sample mean by one standard deviation. However, we did not validate those definitions. In this study, we replicated our previous work, but also validated those definitions with measures of antisocial and harmful behaviors. We administered the NEO PI-R to a new sample of 581 adults of the general Spanish population. Prevalence rates for the different definitions of psychopathy were consistently low, indicating that the prevalence of clinical psychopathy in the general Spanish population is around 0.53%, and that of subclinical psychopathy is around 1.32%. These prevalence rates were similar to those found in our previous work (0.55% and 1.65%). On the other hand, people with subclinical or clinical psychopathy showed higher levels of antisocial behaviors, psychological coercion and aggression towards their partner, and workplace harassment. This last result validated the definitions of psychopathy based on the NEO PI-R. Finally, the results of both studies question the alarmist claims that warn about the existence in society of a very high number of people with psychopathy who can cause many physical, and psychological damage to others.