Narcissism, psychopathy, and sexual coercive behaviours among university students
Type of Proposal
Oral presentation
Streaming Media
Faculty
Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Faculty Sponsor
Dr. Calvin Langton
Proposal
A range of personality traits have been associated with the perpetration of sexual aggression in community samples. In particular, maladaptive narcissistic personality traits have been shown to correlate with use of sexual coercive tactics, as have traits associated with primary psychopathy. In separate research, indices of higher sex drive and interest in sexual deviance (e.g., paraphilic interests) have been associated with sexually abusive and aggressive behaviours. The purpose of the present study is to replicate these findings, and also to determine the unique contributions that distinct sets of personality traits and indices of sexual interests and behaviors make in accounting for self-reported endorsement of sexually coercive tactics. Participants recruited from a university student population completed a battery of questionnaires online, measuring narcissistic traits, psychopathic traits, indices of sex drive and interest in paraphilias, use of sexually coercive tactics, and social desirability responding. It was hypothesized that higher scores on primary psychopathy and maladaptive narcissism would be significantly and positively correlated with higher scores on a measure of sexually coercive tactics. It was also hypothesized that higher scores on primary psychopathy and maladaptive narcissism, in separate hierarchical multiple regression models, would remain significant predictors when indices of sex drive and sexual deviance were added to the models. Further, it was expected that these latter measures would have incremental validity. Findings add to theoretical understanding of these predictors of sexually coercive behaviours among university students by examining them in integrated models. These results also have potential implications for prevention and intervention work.
Start Date
31-3-2017 10:30 AM
End Date
31-3-2017 11:50 AM
Narcissism, psychopathy, and sexual coercive behaviours among university students
A range of personality traits have been associated with the perpetration of sexual aggression in community samples. In particular, maladaptive narcissistic personality traits have been shown to correlate with use of sexual coercive tactics, as have traits associated with primary psychopathy. In separate research, indices of higher sex drive and interest in sexual deviance (e.g., paraphilic interests) have been associated with sexually abusive and aggressive behaviours. The purpose of the present study is to replicate these findings, and also to determine the unique contributions that distinct sets of personality traits and indices of sexual interests and behaviors make in accounting for self-reported endorsement of sexually coercive tactics. Participants recruited from a university student population completed a battery of questionnaires online, measuring narcissistic traits, psychopathic traits, indices of sex drive and interest in paraphilias, use of sexually coercive tactics, and social desirability responding. It was hypothesized that higher scores on primary psychopathy and maladaptive narcissism would be significantly and positively correlated with higher scores on a measure of sexually coercive tactics. It was also hypothesized that higher scores on primary psychopathy and maladaptive narcissism, in separate hierarchical multiple regression models, would remain significant predictors when indices of sex drive and sexual deviance were added to the models. Further, it was expected that these latter measures would have incremental validity. Findings add to theoretical understanding of these predictors of sexually coercive behaviours among university students by examining them in integrated models. These results also have potential implications for prevention and intervention work.