Influence of Child Abuse and Neglect on Histrionic Personality Pathology.

Histrionic personality pathology is among the most common forms of personality pathology, although little is known about its potential risk factors. One possible factor that may influence histrionic personality pathology is childhood trauma, most notably sexual abuse and physical/emotional neglect. However, there is little research on how these and other forms of childhood trauma may influence histrionic personality pathology relative to each other. To address this, in this study we examined the relative effects of different forms of child abuse and neglect on histrionic personality pathology in a sample of women and men from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 399) using a Bayesian approach to structural equation modeling. Results suggest that child sexual abuse is the strongest predictor of histrionic personality pathology in adulthood. However, this differs between women and men such that physical neglect also predicts histrionic personality pathology for women, whereas physical and emotional abuse as well as emotional neglect predict histrionic personality pathology for men. These findings provide insight into the developmental precursors to histrionic personality pathology and have implications for research on and clinical intervention with people exhibiting histrionic personality pathology.

Influence of Betrayal Trauma on Psychopathy.

Psychopathy is a virulent form of personality pathology that exerts a costly burden on society. Although there is a strong hereditary component to psychopathy, the environment also has an impact. One of the most salient environmental influences is trauma, although not all forms of trauma may be equally predictive of psychopathy. Many studies suggest that trauma perpetrated by someone whom the victim trusts and relies upon (i.e., betrayal trauma) has an especially robust influence on personality pathology. However, there has not yet been research examining this with respect to psychopathy specifically. In this study we examined the influence of traumas with varying degrees of betrayal on psychopathy in a sample of men and women working for Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 444) using partial least square structural equation modeling. Results suggest that interpersonal trauma in general was associated with psychopathy for both men and women, and that trauma high in betrayal was uniquely associated with psychopathy among men. These results clarify previous research on the association between betrayal trauma and personality pathology and on the traumatic antecedents of psychopathy in particular.

Influence of Betrayal Trauma on Antisocial Personality Disorder Traits.

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is linked to a number of social problems and accordingly is the focus of intensive empirical study. There is reason to believe that ASPD is influenced at least in part by exposure to trauma, but there has been minimal research on the association between trauma and ASPD traits. Specifically, research has not examined how traumatic experiences with different degrees of interpersonal betrayal differentially influence ASPD traits. This is notable in light of recent studies indicating that exposure to traumatic experiences high in betrayal (i.e., high betrayal trauma) is the primary predictor of borderline and narcissistic personality pathology. In this study, we examined the relative associations between high, medium, and low betrayal trauma and ASPD traits in a sample recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (N = 363) using structural equation modeling. Results confirmed a strong association between trauma and ASPD traits in general, although the influence of specific forms of trauma differed depending on both sex and how trauma was calculated (i.e., in terms of severity vs. exposure). In general, high betrayal trauma was the most consistent predictor of ASPD traits for men, whereas medium and low betrayal traumas were more consistently associated with ASPD traits for women. Study findings extend research on betrayal trauma to more malevolent forms of personality pathology. Sex differences in the influence of trauma across ASPD traits suggest the possibility of sex-specific personality responses to trauma high in betrayal, a topic that can be addressed in the future research.