Latent profiles identified from psychological test data for people convicted of sexual offences in the UK.

BACKGROUND: One size does not fit all in assessment and intervention for people with convictions for sexual offences. Crime scene indicators and risk-related variables have been used to identify distinct clusters of people with convictions for sexual offences, but there is a need for more robust typologies that identify clusters based on psychologically meaningful risk factors that can be targeted in treatment. AIMS: To use robust modelling techniques to identify latent profiles of people with convictions for sexual offences based on indicators of dynamic risk. METHOD: Adult male participants, who had been convicted for sexual offences and assessed for eligibility for the prison-based Core Sex Offender Treatment Programme delivered by His Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (UK), were randomly allocated to a test (n = 1577: 70.2%) or validation (n = 668: 29.8%) data-set. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to select measures of dynamic risk from psychological test data. EFA indicated four factors, from which six measures were selected for inclusion in latent profile analysis. RESULTS: Five latent profiles were identified in the test and validation data-sets. These were labelled low psychological impairment, impulsive, distorted thinker, rape preoccupied and child fantasist. Profiles varied in individual characteristics, offence histories, victim preferences and level of risk. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings should be used to guide assessment and intervention practices that are tailored to distinct psychological profiles consistent with principles of risk, need and responsivity.

Psychosocial functioning in the balance between autism and psychosis: evidence from three populations.

Functional impairment is a core feature of both autism and schizophrenia spectrum disorders. While diagnostically independent, they can co-occur in the same individual at both the trait and diagnostic levels. The effect of such co-occurrence is hypothesized to worsen functional impairment. The diametric model, however, suggests that the disorders are etiologically and phenotypically diametrical, representing the extreme of a unidimensional continuum of cognition and behavior. A central prediction of this model is that functional impairment would be attenuated in individuals with mixed symptom expressions or genetic liability to both disorders. We tested this hypothesis in two clinical populations and one healthy population. In individuals with chronic schizophrenia and in individuals with first episode psychosis we evaluated the combined effect of autistic traits and positive psychotic symptoms on psychosocial functioning. In healthy carriers of alleles of copy number variants (CNVs) that confer risk for both autism and schizophrenia, we also evaluated whether variation in psychosocial functioning depended on the combined risk conferred by each CNV. Relative to individuals with biased symptom/CNV risk profiles, results show that functional impairments are attenuated in individuals with relatively equal levels of positive symptoms and autistic traits-and specifically stereotypic behaviors-, and in carriers of CNVs with relatively equal risks for either disorder. However, the pattern of effects along the "balance axis" varied across the groups, with this attenuation being generally less pronounced in individuals with high-high symptom/risk profile in the schizophrenia and CNV groups, and relatively similar for low-low and high-high individuals in the first episode psychosis group. Lower levels of functional impairments in individuals with "balanced" symptom profile or genetic risks would suggest compensation across mechanisms associated with autism and schizophrenia. CNVs that confer equal risks for both disorders may provide an entry point for investigations into such compensatory mechanisms. The co-assessment of autism and schizophrenia may contribute to personalized prognosis and stratification strategies.

Coping Using Sex During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in the United Kingdom.

BACKGROUND: The use of sex to cope with negative affective states during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic may be influenced by various sociodemographic and psychological characteristics. AIM: We aimed to examine the effects of social distancing, loneliness, difficulties in emotion regulation, and self-regulation on participants self-reported coping using sex during lockdown in the United Kingdom. METHODS: Participants had to be residents of the United Kingdom, aged between 18-60 years, fluent in English, and had to have an Internet connection. They were instructed not to participate if they had consumed alcohol in the previous 24 hours. A total of 789 participants aged 18-59 years completed an online survey. Participants provided self-report measures of social distancing, loneliness, and difficulties in emotion regulation. A Go/No-Go task was used to assess self-regulation. OUTCOMES: Participants self-reported their use of sex to cope over a 14-day period during lockdown, as well as retrospectively for a 14-day period immediately preceding lockdown. Coping using sex items included consensual and non-consensual themes. RESULTS: Overall, there was no increase in coping using sex during lockdown compared with before lockdown. Findings showed that 30% of participants reported increased coping using sex during lockdown compared with before, 29% reported decreased coping using sex, and 41% reported no change. All regression models included age, gender, ethnicity, diagnosis of psychiatric condition, level of education, being at high-risk for difficulties relating to COVID-19, living alone, and diagnosed or suspected COVID-19 as covariates. Being younger, being male, and greater emotion dysregulation were associated with higher coping using sex total and consent subscale scores during lockdown. Being younger, being male, not living alone, and less adherence to social distancing advice were associated with coping using sex with a theme of rape/violence during lockdown. CLINICAL TRANSLATION: A proportion of participants used sex to cope more often during lockdown compared with before. Less adherence to social distancing advice and emotion dysregulation were associated with using sex to cope during lockdown. STRENGTHS & LIMITATIONS: Strengths of this study were the large sample size and inclusion of key sociodemographic characteristics as covariates. The main limitations were the cross-sectional design and a sample that was mostly white, educated, and female. CONCLUSION: Participants who had difficulty regulating emotions were more likely to use sex to cope. It is important that support is available for people who have problems regulating their emotions during the pandemic and that they have access to appropriate help and advice. Gillespie SM, Jones A, Uzieblo K, et al. Coping Using Sex During the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Outbreak in the United Kingdom. J Sex Med 2021;18:50-62.

Schizotypy and psychopathic tendencies interactively improve misattribution of affect in boys with conduct problems.

Psychopathic tendencies are associated with difficulties in affective theory of mind (ToM), that is, in recognizing others affective mental states. In clinical and non-clinical adult samples, it has been shown that where psychopathic tendencies co-occur with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, the impairing effects of psychopathic tendencies on ToM are attenuated. These effects are yet to be examined in adolescents. We examined if the impairing effect of psychopathic tendencies on affective ToM was attenuated with increasing severity of schizotypal personality disorder (PD) in a sample of 80 incarcerated adolescent boys. We showed that the impairing effect of psychopathic tendencies on the recognition of neutral mental states, but not positive or negative mental states, was evident when the relative severity of schizotypal PD was low. However, with higher scores on both measures, we observed better performance in judging neutral mental states. The preservation of affective ToM in adolescents who show elevations in psychopathic tendencies and schizotypal PD may enable them to manipulate and extort their victims for personal gain. Our results emphasize the need to consider comorbidity in clinical case formulation when working with adolescents with conduct problems and psychopathic tendencies. More broadly, our results also suggest that the pattern of social cognitive abilities associated with co-occurring psychopathology does not always conform to an often-theorized double-dose of deficit hypothesis.

Callous-unemotional traits and fearlessness: A cardiovascular psychophysiological perspective in two adolescent samples using virtual reality.

There has been a longstanding debate about the link between callous-unemotional traits and fearlessness. However, biological evidence for a relationship in adolescents is lacking. Using two adolescent samples, we measured emotional reactivity and cardiac measures of sympathetic (pre-ejection period) and parasympathetic (respiratory sinus arrhythmia) reactivity during 3D TV and virtual reality fear induction. Study 1 included 62 community adolescents from a stratified sample. Study 2 included 60 adolescents from Emotional and Behavioral Difficulties schools. Results were consistent across both studies. Adolescents with high callous-unemotional traits showed coactivation of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. Consistent with these results, youths with callous-unemotional traits self-reported that they felt more in control after the fear induction. Thus, in both samples, youth with callous-unemotional traits displayed a physiological and emotional profile suggesting they maintained control during fear induction. Therefore, it is proposed here that a shift in thinking of youth with callous-unemotional traits as fearless to youth with callous-unemotional traits are better able to manage fearful situations, may be more appropriate.

Emotion regulation mediates relationships between mindfulness facets and aggression dimensions.

Recent years have witnessed an increase of research on socio-affective factors that can explain individual differences in aggressive tendencies across community and offender populations. Specifically, mindfulness and emotion regulation have emerged as important factors, which could also constitute important prevention and treatment targets. Yet, recent studies have advanced the possibility that mindfulness may also have a "dark" side, being associated with increased levels of aggression-related variables, especially when accounting for the variance associated with emotion regulation. The present study sought to elucidate relationships among mindfulness, emotion regulation, and aggression dimensions (i.e., verbal and physical aggression, anger, and hostility) across violent offender (N = 397) and community (N = 324) samples. Results revealed expected associations between both mindfulness and emotion regulation and aggression dimensions, such that greater impairments in mindfulness and emotion regulation were related to increased levels of aggression across samples. Further, analyses of indirect effects revealed that a latent emotion dysregulation factor accounted for (i.e., mediated) relationships between mindfulness facets and aggression dimensions in both samples. Previously reported positive associations between the residual variance in mindfulness scales (i.e., controlling for emotion regulation) and aggression-related variables were not replicated in the current samples. Taken together, findings suggest that mindfulness and emotion regulation have unequivocal relations with lower levels of aggression, and should therefore be considered as relevant targets for prevention and treatment programs aimed at reducing aggressive tendencies.

Characteristics of Female Solo and Female Co-Offenders and Male Solo Sexual Offenders Against Children.

Studies have highlighted differences in the victim choice, offender, and offense characteristics of female and male sexual offenders. However, little is known about how solo and co-offending females differ from solo male sexual offenders. We compared the characteristics of 20 solo and 20 co-offending females (co-offended with a male and/or female accomplice), and 40 male sexual offenders against children. We found that solo female offenders showed the most evidence of personal problems, including depression and sexual dissatisfaction. Compared with male offenders, female co-offenders showed poorer self-management, but better sexual self-regulation. Male offenders had a greater history of offending and showed more evidence of sexual abuse supportive cognitions relative to both solo and co-offending females. These results are consistent with the need for a gender-specific approach to working with sexual offenders and may have implications for understanding the often complex treatment needs of these clients.

Does Affective Theory of Mind Contribute to Proactive Aggression in Boys with Conduct Problems and Psychopathic Tendencies?

Adolescent psychopathic tendencies are associated with phenotypic increases in proactive aggression. However, the extent to which an understanding of others' affective mental states, or affective theory of mind (ToM), contributes to proactive aggression remains unknown. We examined how performance on a well-known test of affective ToM, based on cropped images of the eye region, contributes to reactive and proactive types of aggression in a mixed ethnicity sample of 80 incarcerated adolescent boys. A hierarchical regression model showed that affective ToM predicted proactive aggression over and above the influence of clinically rated psychopathic tendencies. Importantly, affective ToM was unrelated to reactive aggression. Our results suggest that being able to recognize others' affective mental states may be an important factor in aggressing against others for personal gain. These findings have implications for interventions designed to enhance ToM in youth with conduct problems.

An Evaluation of a Community-Based Psycho-Educational Program for Users of Child Sexual Exploitation Material.

Online sexual offenders represent an increasingly large proportion of all sexual offenders. Many of these offenders receive noncustodial sentences, and there is a growing need for community-based interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate a psycho-educational program for community dwelling users of child sexual exploitation material (CSEM). A total of 92 adult male participants completed self-report measures at pre and post. A subset of participants also completed measures after a follow-up period. Results suggested benefits across depression, anxiety, and stress; social competency, including locus of control and self-esteem; and distorted attitudes. Furthermore, these effects remained 8 to 12 weeks following program completion. Our results suggest that CSEM users are amenable to treatment in the community and that there are beneficial outcomes in affective and interpersonal functioning following psycho-education. These factors represent treatment targets for sexual offenders and are recognized risk factors for contact sexual offense recidivism.

Characteristics of females who sexually offend: a comparison of solo and co-offenders.

Although recent typologies of female sexual offenders have recognized the importance of having a co-offender, the clinical characteristics of solo and co-female sexual offenders remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to compare solo (n = 20) and co- (n = 20) female sexual offenders on a variety of clinical characteristics. It was found that although solo and co-offenders reported similar developmental experiences and psychological dispositions, differences were found in environmental niche, offense preceding, and positive factors. Specifically, solo offenders demonstrated a greater presence of personal vulnerabilities including mental health and substance abuse difficulties. Co-offenders reported a greater presence of environmentally based factors, including a current partner who was a known sex offender and involvement with antisocial peers. It is suggested that these results have implications for understanding assessment and intervention needs for these groups of sexual offenders.

Psychopathy and gaze cueing.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Psychopathic traits - and especially callous affective features - have been linked to altered processing of others' emotional expressions, and to reduced attention to the eyes. Despite the importance of gaze cueing (i.e., the tendency to orient attention toward where someone else is looking) for social functioning, few studies have investigated relationships between psychopathic traits and gaze cueing, and whether facial emotional expression influence these relationships, obtaining mixed results. To address this gap, the present study aimed to evaluate associations between psychopathic traits and gaze cueing for emotional and neutral expressions. METHODS: 65 non-clinical male participants (Mage = 27.3 years) completed two self-report measures of psychopathy and performed laboratory tasks to assess gaze-cueing for emotional vs. neutral faces and an arrow-cueing task as a comparison. RESULTS: Linear mixed models showed no significant associations of emotional (versus neutral) expressions, or psychopathy trait dimensions, with either gaze cueing or arrow cueing. LIMITATIONS: Reliance on a convenience sample of non-clinical men, assessed with self-reports measures of psychopathy, and using static emotional stimuli limit the generalizability of our findings. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that psychopathic traits are not associated with individual differences in following others' gaze to direct attention, and that there was no advantage for affective relative to neutral expressions.

Careless responding in online studies is associated with alcohol use: A mega-analysis.

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence of research conducted online in the addiction field has increased rapidly over the past decade. However, little focus has been given to careless responding in these online studies, despite the issues it may cause for statistical inference and generalizability. Our aim was to examine whether alcohol use is associated with careless responses. METHOD: Raw data were requested from online studies examining alcohol use and related problems which also addressed careless responding. We obtained 13 data sets of 12,237 participants (Mage = 42.16, SD = 15.65, 50.5% female). The sample had an average Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) score of 10.88 (SD = 7.77). Predictors included demographic information (age, gender) and AUDIT total scores. The primary outcome was whether an individual was classed as a careless responder, for example, by failing an explicit attention check question. RESULTS: AUDIT total scores were associated with careless responding (OR = 1.07, 95% CI [1.06, 1.08], p < .001). Hazardous drinking or worse was associated with 2.21 greater odds (OR = 2.21, 95% CI [1.81, 2.71] of careless responding, whereas harmful drinking or worse was associated with 3.43 greater odds (OR = 3.43, 95% CI [2.83, 4.17]) and probable dependence was associated with 3.63 greater odds (OR = 3.63, 95% CI [2.95, 4.48]). CONCLUSIONS: Alcohol use and related problems are positively associated with careless responding in online research. Removal of individuals identified as careless responders may lead to issues of generalizability, and more care should be taken to identify and handle careless responder data. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Recognition of dynamic facial expressions of emotions in forensic inpatients who have committed sexual offenses: a signal detection analysis.

Emotion recognition is central in prosocial interaction, enabling the inference of mental and affective states. Individuals who have committed sexual offenses are known to exhibit socio-affective deficits, one of the four dynamic risk assessment dimensions found in the literature. Few research focused on emotion recognition. The available literature, exclusively on individuals in prison who have committed sexual offenses, showed contrasting results. Some found a global (across all emotions) or specific (e.g., anger, fear) deficit in emotion recognition. In contrast, others found no difference between individuals in prison who have committed sexual offenses and those who have committed non-sexual offenses. In addition, no such study has been undertaken among forensic inpatients who exhibit socio-affective deficits. This study aims to investigate the recognition of dynamic facial expressions of emotion in 112 male participants divided into three groups: forensic inpatients who have committed sexual offenses (n = 37), forensic inpatients who have committed non-sexual offenses (n = 25), and community members (n = 50), using the Signal Detection Theory indices: sensitivity (d') and response bias (c). In addition, measures related to reaction time, emotion labeling reflection time, task easiness, and easiness reflection time were also collected. Non-parametric analyses (Kruskall-Wallis' H, followed by Mann-Whitney's U with Dunn-Bonferroni correction) highlighted that the two forensic inpatient groups exhibited emotion recognition deficits when compared to community members. Forensic inpatients who have committed sexual offenses were more conservative in selecting the surprise label than community members. They also took significantly more time to react to stimuli and to select an emotional label. Despite emotion recognition deficits, the two forensic inpatient groups reported more stimuli easiness than community members.

Psychopathy and dangerousness: An umbrella review and meta-analysis.

Psychopathy has traditionally been linked with heightened criminality, but the relationship of psychopathy with increased risk for dangerousness is contested. To address this debated issue, we conducted an umbrella review (PROSPERO CRD42020214761) of all available meta-analyses of psychopathy and indices of 'dangerousness' (e.g., violent or sexual recidivism, self-reported aggression). We searched PsycINFO, Web of Science, PubMed, and Scopus from inception to August 19, 2022, to identify systematic reviews and meta-analyses on psychopathy and dangerousness. Our review included 33 studies, with the quantitative synthesis including 17 effect sizes extracted from 10 studies (N = âˆ¼77,000 participants). Overall, we observed a pooled correlation coefficient r = 0.284 [95% CI = 0.233, 0.336] for the association of psychopathy with dangerousness (equivalent to Cohen's d = 0.592). Despite considerable heterogeneity (I2 = 89.9%), leave-one-out analyses had minimal impact. The effect was robust to examination of potential moderators such as study quality and sample ages. However, the relationship was stronger when psychopathy was assessed using self-report compared to clinical rating scales. The association should be interpreted as meaningful in both the short-term and the long-term and suggests that psychopathy is one of the strongest predictors of dangerousness in the realm of psychopathology.

Psychopathic traits and theory of mind task performance: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

This meta-analysis aims to examine the relationship between psychopathic traits and theory of mind (ToM), which is classically and broadly defined as competency in representing and attributing mental states such as emotions, intentions, and beliefs to others. Our search strategy gathered 142 effect sizes from 42 studies, with a total sample size of 7463 participants. Random effects models were used to analyze the data. Our findings suggested that psychopathic traits are associated with impaired ToM task performance. This relationship was not moderated by factors such as age, population, psychopathy measurement (self-report versus clinical checklist) or conceptualization, or ToM task type (cognitive versus affective). The effect also remained significant after excluding tasks that did not require the participant to 1) mentalize or 2) differentiate between self and other perspectives. However, interpersonal/affective traits were associated with a more pronounced impairment in ToM task performance compared to lifestyle/antisocial traits. Future research should investigate the effects of distinct psychopathy facets that will allow for a more precise understanding of the social-cognitive bases of relevant clinical presentations in psychopathy.

Psychopathy and response inhibition: A meta-analysis of go/no-go and stop signal task performance.

Traditional and more modern conceptualizations of psychopathy cite problems with impulse control. However, the extent to which these problems represent a cardinal feature of the disorder has been debated. In this study, we conducted a preregistered systematic review and meta-analysis, searching Embase, Medline, PsycINFO, and PubMed, for studies from inception to January 6th, 2022. We included 21 studies, published between 2009 and 2021, that reported on the relationship of psychopathy with performance on the go/no-go or stop signal task. A multilevel random-effects meta-analysis, including 43 effect sizes from 17 studies (total N = 1394), showed a significant pooled association between psychopathy and response inhibition r = -0.143 (95 % CI: -0.250 to -0.034). The relatively small effect size, although statistically significant, calls in to question the extent to which difficulties in response inhibition should be considered a cardinal feature of psychopathic personality. The strength of the relationship did not significantly differ between non-criminal and criminal samples, gender, task type, tasks with or without an affective component, or by psychopathy trait dimension.

Dynamics of parasympathetic activity in violent incarcerated offenders before, during, and in recovery from an emotional inhibition task.

Dynamics of the autonomic nervous system (ANS) are hypothesized to play a role in the emergence of interpersonal violence. In the present study, we examined continuous activities of the inhibitory parasympathetic pathway of the ANS through the root mean square of successive differences between normal heartbeats (RMSSD) in 22 male offenders who committed interpersonal violence and 24 matched controls from the general population across three successive phases: resting baseline, while performing an emotional Go/No-Go task, and post-task recovery. Results showed that across the three phases, the offender group presented lower RMSSD at baseline (pFDR = .003; Cohen's d = - 1.11), but similar levels during the task, attributed to a significant increase in their RMSSD level (pFDR = .027, Cohen's d = - 1.26). During recovery, while no distinction between the two groups was found, both groups showed signs of recovering toward baseline values. These findings suggest that violent incarcerated offenders can flexibly engage parasympathetic resources to meet environmental challenges. This underscores the necessity of considering parasympathetic dynamics and its respective mobilization/flexibility to better understand ANS profiles underlying interpersonal violence as well as its potential utility in designing more tailored interventions.

Skin Conductance Responses to a Discrete Threat in Virtual Reality: Associations with Psychopathy and Anxiety.

People with high levels of psychopathic traits are often described as fearless and lacking in emotional depth, particularly when evaluating threats in their environments. Skin conductance responsivity (SCR) to negative emotional stimuli represents a robust autonomic correlate of conduct problem behavior in children (Fanti et al., in Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 100, 98-107, 2019). However, studies that have examined threat-related processing in youth with conduct problems have tended to use a variety of negative stimuli that might induce various and unspecific negative emotions. Few studies have taken in to account the moderating effects of anxiety on the relationship of distinct psychopathic traits (e.g., narcissism, callousness, impulsivity) with SCR to a fear inducing stimulus. In this study, we examined SCR to a virtual reality rollercoaster drop - that is, a discrete fear inducing event - in a sample of 75 youths (61 males; M = 14 years, SD = 1.4) enrolled in a non-mainstream school. The rollercoaster drop was used to more clearly examine an event-related response to a discrete threat, rather than examining SCR throughout the rollercoaster ride. We used the teacher-reported Antisocial Process Screening Device (Frick & Hare, in Antisocial process screening device: APSD. Toronto: Multi-Health Systems, 2001) to examine the relations of distinct psychopathic traits with SCR and self-reported anxiety. Lower anxiety was associated with higher callousness, but only in youths with low SCR to discrete threat. These findings suggest that fear and anxiety show complex and interactive relations with distinct psychopathic traits.

Coping Using Sex, Health-Related Behaviors, and Mental Health During COVID-19 Lockdown in the UK.

Background: Peoples' sexual behaviors have changed during the period of enforced COVID-19 social distancing, in some cases, to cope with negative feelings during lockdown. Research on coping using sex is relatively restricted to samples of men with a history of sexual offending, and it is unknown whether coping using sex is associated with health-related behaviors and mental health in the general population. Aim: We examined if coping using sex before and during lockdown was associated with adverse outcomes (i.e., self-perceived reduction in health-related behaviors and mental health) in a community sample. Hypotheses: We hypothesized that participants who reported greater use of sex to cope in the weeks preceding lockdown would show a greater decline in health-related behaviors and mental health during lockdown. Furthermore, that changes in coping using sex resulting from lockdown would account for further variance in the worsening of health-related behaviors and mental health. Methods: Participants were UK residents, aged 18-60 years, and fluent in English. 789 participants completed an online survey, providing demographic information, self-reported social distancing, loneliness, and coping using sex over a 14-day period during lockdown, and retrospectively preceding lockdown. Outcomes: Participants reported perceived changes in health-related behaviors and mental health symptomatology during lockdown compared to before the pandemic. They also self-reported levels of stress, anxiety and depression during lockdown. Results: Greater coping using sex prior to lockdown predicted positive change in health-related behaviors, for example, higher scores were associated with participants reporting having exercised and slept more. It was also associated with higher trait levels of anxiety, stress and depression during lockdown. Changes in coping using sex from before to during lockdown did not predict perceived changes in health related behaviors or mental health symptomatology. Conclusions: Overall, greater coping using sex prior to lockdown was associated with worse mental health symptomatology during lockdown (anxiety, depression and stress), however, it was also associated with perceived positive change in health-related behaviors compared with before lockdown. This suggests that coping using sex may be associated with negative emotional reactions during lockdown, but may also be linked with positive change in health-promoting behaviors.

Cardiac Autonomic Function and Psychological Characteristics of Heterosexual Female Perpetrators of Intimate Partner Physical Aggression.

Intimate partner violence is predominantly viewed as a social problem of men's violence against women. However, a growing evidence base suggests an equal prevalence rate for male and female perpetrated intimate partner physical aggression. Moreover, female perpetrated intimate partner violence is often assumed to be reactive, yet there is limited evidence to support this notion. In this article, we describe the results of two studies that investigated the prevalence of female perpetrated intimate partner physical aggression, and its correlates in heterosexual female university students. The relationships of personality traits, resting heart rate, and heart rate variability (a correlate of vagal activity) were compared between females who did and did not report having engaged in intimate partner physical aggression. In Study 1, we found that 30.9% of participants reported enacting intimate partner physical aggression during the preceding 12 months. This finding suggests that a considerable number of undergraduate females aggress against their intimate partners. Perpetrators, relative to nonperpetrators, scored higher on secondary psychopathic traits. In Study 2, female intimate partner violence was shown to be associated with low resting heart rate and high heart rate variability. Perpetrators, relative to nonperpetrators, scored higher on psychopathic traits that index emotional resilience and unempathic tendencies, and reported increased proactive and reactive aggression. This raises the possibility that some incidences of female intimate partner physical aggression represent proactive aggressive acts. These findings also support the frequently found association between low resting heart rate and aggression, but raise the prospect that the reported aggressive acts reflect high heart rate variability and strong parasympathetic nervous system activity.