Primary versus secondary psychopathy: Coping styles as a mediator between psychopathy and well-being
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Primary versus secondary psychopathy: Coping styles as a mediator between psychopathy and well-being Seren Saltoğlu 1 & Doruk Uysal Irak 2 Accepted: 28 October 2020 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract This study investigated the differences in the levels of adaptiveness of primary and secondary psychopathy in the context of psychological well-being (depression, anxiety, stress, and life satisfaction) and the mediating role of three different coping styles (task-focused coping, emotional coping, and avoidance coping) in this relationship. In a non-clinical sample of 297 participants, results indicated that both primary and secondary psychopathy facets were likely to rely on maladaptive coping styles and have poor psychological well-being. Nevertheless, in comparison to secondary psychopathy, primary psychopathy was related to less maladaptive choice of coping styles and to comparatively higher levels of psychological well-being. These findings indicated the need for clinical prevention and intervention programs for teaching sub-clinical psychopaths – particularly people with high levels of secondary psychopathy – effective coping skills and, consequently, ameliorating their psychological well-being and diminishing their negative impact on other people, while taking psychopathy’s multidimensional nature into account. Keywords Primary psychopathy . Secondary psychopathy . Coping . Psychological well-being
Introduction While the existence of cold-hearted dictators and cruel serial killers blatantly exposes the malevolent side of human beings and reveals how psychopathy shows itself in everyday life, there are also milder versions of this malevolent trait within society, known as sub-clinical psychopathy. People with subclinical psychopathy are often able to live a relatively ordinary life and even operate in respected positions in the community while still engaging in antisocial acts. Unfortunately, if these individuals are able to maintain a low profile, it is possible for them to avoid recognition and penalty. This may be because of the relatively adaptive aspects of psychopathy that are evident in the distinction of psychopathy into primary and secondary This manuscript is based on first author’s master thesis. * Seren Saltoğlu [email protected] Doruk Uysal Irak [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology, Işık University, Büyükdere Caddesi No:194 Maslak, Istanbul 34398, Turkey
2
Department of Psychology, Bahcesehir University, Ciragan caddesi, Osmanpasa Mektebi Sokak No:4 Besiktas, 34353 Istanbul, Turkey
facets (Blackburn, 1975). For instance, research has revealed that primary psychopathy (PP) is related to better emotion regulation while secondary psychopathy (SP) predicts socially deviant behaviors (Berg et al., 2013; Hare et al., 1990; Lee & Salekin, 2010; Levenson, Kiehl, & Fitzpatrick, 1995). However, more research is needed in order to distinguish psychopathy’s adaptive and maladaptive aspects as suggested by various researchers (e.g.Furnham
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