Psychopathic personality traits predict positive attitudes toward sexually predatory behaviors in college men and women

Psychopathic personality traits are associated with a wide range of sexually manipulative and coercive behaviors. These associations have been studied mainly in male samples. The current study assessed the association between psychopathy and a measure of attitudes toward sexually predatory behavior in both college men and women. The measure of attitudes toward sexually predatory behavior comprises vignettes describing protagonists engaging in various sexually coercive tactics. Men and women who were higher in self-centered impulsivity rated the behaviors described in the vignettes as more acceptable. Men rated these behaviors as more acceptable than women did. There were also interactions between gender and self-centered impulsivity, gender and fearless dominance, and gender and coldheartedness. Although self-centered impulsivity was a predictor of positive attitudes toward predatory sexual behavior for women, it was a stronger predictor for men. Fearless dominance and coldheartedness were significant predictors for men, but not for women.