Psychopathic personality traits and risky sexual behavior in college students

Risky sexual behavior (RSB) is associated with a variety of negative health and social consequences including STDs and unplanned pregnancies. The present study focused on the association between psychopathic personality traits and RSB. College students (N = 511) completed self-report measures of RSB, psychopathic personality traits, and sensation seeking. When sensation seeking, Fearless Dominance psychopathic traits, and Impulsive Antisociality psychopathic traits were entered as predictors of RSB, only Impulsive Antisociality significantly contributed to the regression. These main effects were qualified by a gender by psychopathic traits interaction: (a) Impulsive Antisociality predicted RSB in both men and women, with a stronger association between Impulsive Antisociality and RSB in men, and (b) Fearless Dominance only predicted RSB in men. Thus, RSB may require both opportunity (associated with Fearless Dominance in men) and a combination of poor judgment and impulsive behavior (associated with Impulsive Antisociality in both men and women).