Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research,

Practice, and Policy

Childhood Trauma and Psychopathy: The Moderating Role of Resilience
Carlo Garofalo, Elisa Delvecchio, Stefan Bogaerts, Martin Sellbom, and Claudia Mazzeschi
Online First Publication, March 28, 2024. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0001687

CITATION
Garofalo, C., Delvecchio, E., Bogaerts, S., Sellbom, M., & Mazzeschi, C. (2024). Childhood trauma and
psychopathy: The moderating role of resilience.. Psychological Trauma: Theory, Research, Practice, and
Policy. Advance online publication. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/tra0001687
 Psychological Trauma:
Theory, Research, Practice, and Policy
© 2024 American Psychological Association
ISSN: 1942-9681 https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001687

Childhood Trauma and Psychopathy: The Moderating Role of Resilience

Carlo Garofalo1, Elisa Delvecchio1, Stefan Bogaerts2, Martin Sellbom3, and Claudia Mazzeschi1
1
Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education, University of Perugia
2
Department of Developmental Psychology, Tilburg University
3
Department of Psychology, University of Otago

Objective: Despite accumulating evidence of significant albeit moderate associations between childhood
trauma and psychopathy, little is known about the potential moderators of these associations. To advance
knowledge in this area, the present study investigated the moderating role of resilience in the childhood
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.

trauma–psychopathy link. Method: A community sample of 521 adult participants from the Netherlands
This document is copyrighted by the American Psychological Association or one of its allied publishers.

(40.1% men; Mage = 35.27 years, SD = 15.99) completed two self-report questionnaires measuring psycho-
pathic personality traits: a self-report measure of resilience and a retrospective measure of childhood trau-
matic experiences. Correlation analyses were employed to investigate bivariate associations among study
variables. Moderated multiple regression analyses with bootstrapping followed by simple slope analyses
were employed to examine Childhood Trauma × Resilience interactions in predicting scores of psychopathy
subscales. Results: Childhood trauma had small positive associations with psychopathic traits across the
board, with the exception of a small negative association with boldness traits, as well as a small negative
association with resilience. Resilience was strongly and positively related to boldness, and negatively related
to affective (callousness, meanness) and behavioral (antisocial, disinhibition) traits of psychopathy.
Resilience moderated six out of seven associations between childhood trauma and psychopathic traits.
Conclusions: Resilience appeared to represent a significant buffer in the associations between childhood
traumatic experiences and psychopathic traits, such that these associations became weaker and nonsignifi-
cant (and even negative for boldness) at higher levels compared to lower levels of resilience.

Clinical Impact Statement

The findings of this study offer valuable insights into the relationship between childhood trauma and psy-
chopathic personality traits, emphasizing the clinical significance of resilience as a protective factor against
the development and manifestation of psychopathic traits in adults who have experienced childhood trauma.
Among individuals who experienced childhood trauma, more resilient individuals show lower levels of psy-
chopathic traits than those who are less resilient. Interventions aimed at enhancing resilience in individuals
with a history of childhood trauma may be effective in buffering the emergence of psychopathic traits, con-
tributing to improved mental health outcomes and decreased societal risks associated with psychopathy.

Keywords: psychopathic personality, child maltreatment, child abuse, triarchic model, interaction

Supplemental materials: https://doi.org/10.1037/tra0001687.supp

investigation that does not overlap with the current manuscript. In addition,
Carlo Garofalo https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2306-6961 MS2 investigated only one of the measures of psychopathy used here and
The authors report that there are no known conflicts of interest to declare. used it as a mediator in the link between childhood traumatic experiences
The data reported in this manuscript were collected as part of a larger data and aggression using structural equation modeling. In contrast, the current
collection. Findings from the broader data collection have been reported in manuscript adopts ordinary least squares methodology to investigate the
separate manuscripts that have used partly overlapping samples and vari- moderating role of resilience in the link between childhood traumatic expe-
ables but were unrelated to the present investigation. MS1 (Garofalo et riences and psychopathy.
al., 2019) focused on psychopathy, contempt, and spitefulness; MS2 Carlo Garofalo served as lead for conceptualization, data curation, formal
(Eisenbarth & Garofalo, 2021) focused on childhood traumatic experi- analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, supervision,
ences, psychopathy, and aggression; MS3 (Garofalo et al., 2021) focused visualization, writing–original draft, and writing–review and editing. Elisa
on psychopathy, emotion dysregulation, and aggression; and MS4 Delvecchio served in a supporting role for methodology and writing–review
(Spantidaki-Kyriazi et al., 2021) focused on psychopathy and emotion and editing. Stefan Bogaerts served in a supporting role for methodology and
goals. The current manuscript focuses on childhood traumatic experiences, writing–review and editing. Martin Sellbom served in a supporting role for
resilience, and psychopathy. Therefore, MS1, MS3, and MS4 only share methodology and writing–review and editing. Claudia Mazzeschi served in
some of the variables measuring psychopathy with the current manuscript, a supporting role for methodology and writing–review and editing.
but address completely different research questions. MS2 and the current Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carlo
manuscript share some of the variables measuring childhood traumatic Garofalo, Department of Philosophy, Social Sciences and Education,
experiences and psychopathy and address substantially different research University of Perugia, Piazza Giuseppe Ermini 1, 06123 Perugia, Italy.
questions. In fact, MS2 included also additional data belonging to a separate Email: [email protected]

1
 2 GAROFALO, DELVECCHIO, BOGAERTS, SELLBOM, AND MAZZESCHI

Psychopathy was one of the first forms of personality pathology to but significant links with interpersonal and affective traits compared
be identified (Millon & Davis, 1998) and one that has attracted con- to behavioral traits).
siderable theoretical and empirical attention (DeLisi, 2009; Hare & A partial exception to this pattern is represented by the boldness
Neumann, 2008; Patrick, 2022), largely due to the detrimental domain of the triarchic model of psychopathy, although this possibility
impact that psychopathic individuals have on others (Gillespie et could not be scrutinized directly in the de Ruiter et al.’s (2022) meta-
al., 2023) and, by extension, on society (Kiehl & Hoffman, 2011). analysis due to a limited available evidence base. Theoretically, bold-
The present study focused on the adult manifestation of psychopathy ness was theorized to be largely unrelated to adverse childhood expe-
relying on two of the most widely adopted conceptualizations of the riences, which were deemed important for the emergence of meanness
disorder: Hare’s (2003) four-factor model characterized by interper- and disinhibition (Patrick & Drislane, 2015; Patrick et al., 2009).
sonal (e.g., grandiosity, manipulation), affective (e.g., callousness, Albeit limited, research findings seem consistent with this perspective,
lack of empathy and remorse), lifestyle (e.g., impulsivity, irrespon- showing null or negative associations between child maltreatment and
sibility), and antisocial (e.g., poor anger control and early, persistent, boldness, and positive associations between child maltreatment and
and versatile antisocial behaviors) features; and Patrick’s (2010) tri- both meanness and disinhibition (Eisenbarth & Garofalo, 2021;
archic model defined in terms of boldness (e.g., interpersonal dom- Tuvblad et al., 2019).
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inance and social poise), meanness (e.g., aggressiveness, Given the diverse theoretical positions, the modest size and mixed
exploitativeness, and a callous disregard for others), and disinhibi- pattern of the associations between child maltreatment and psychopa-
tion (e.g., poor emotion regulation and impulse control along with thy, it is plausible to expect that a third variable could moderate the
antisocial behaviors). Within the triarchic model, some have argued observed associations between child maltreatment and psychopathy.
that meanness and disinhibition pertain to the most severe forms of In addition, scholars have argued that, besides examining traumatic
psychopathy in criminal offenders and, as such, these traits overlap events, it is important to investigate how reactions to traumatic expe-
with Hare’s (2003) four-factor model. In contrast, boldness traits riences impact psychopathic traits (DeLisi, Pechorro, et al., 2021). A
capture interpersonal dominance in noncriminal contexts (e.g., conceptually related candidate in the context of traumatic experi-
Pechorro et al., 2022) and are less represented in Hare’s model of ences—but rarely investigated in psychopathy research—is repre-
psychopathy. sented by those personal characteristics that enable the capacity to
Given the substantial clinical and social importance of psychopathy thrive or bounce back in the face of adversity, empirically captured
(Garofalo et al., 2022), it is not surprising that research has accumu- by the operational construct of resilience (Connor & Davidson,
lated in trying to pinpoint putative risk factors for its development 2003). Resilience includes a wide array of personal characteristics,
to identify potential targets for prevention (Frick, 2009; Raine, such as personal competence and high standards, persistence, distress
2018; Salekin & Frick, 2005). In this context, research has tradition- tolerance, trust, appreciation of relationships, acceptance of changes,
ally been focused on the genetic contribution to the development of and self-transcendence (Connor & Davidson, 2003). Research consis-
psychopathy, possibly due to the view that psychopathy is an innate tently showed that resilience increases both physical and mental health
condition with prominent genetic basis (Bezdjian et al., 2011; (Connor et al., 2003; Masten et al., 2021; Vaishnavi et al., 2007) and
Larsson et al., 2006; Viding et al., 2005). Research on environmental therefore it is important to elucidate its potential role in the child mal-
factors contributing to psychopathy has lagged behind genetic treatment–psychopathy link. Clarifying moderators of this link could
research, and only increased in more recent years (Frick & Kemp, help inform theoretical (e.g., developmental models of psychopathy)
2021; Glenn & Raine, 2020). Growing support for the importance and applied (e.g., preventive interventions) work.
of environmental factors in the development and expression of psy- To date, no studies have examined the role of resilience as a moder-
chopathy (e.g., E. Christian et al., 2017; E. J. Christian et al., 2017; ator between child maltreatment and psychopathy, and only a handful
Kimonis et al., 2014), stresses the need for further research in this of studies have examined links between resilience and psychopathy.
area to inform early interventions. Null or negative relationships between psychopathy total scores and
Against this background, the role of childhood maltreatment resilience have been reported (Sandvik et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2019).
emerged as potential precursor of psychopathic traits (E. J. Christian At the lower order level, several conceptual distinctions can be
et al., 2017; Craparo et al., 2013; Dargis et al., 2016; Farina et al., made. Boldness shares overlap with the construct of resilience, as it
2018; Schimmenti et al., 2015), focusing alternatively or simultane- includes features explicitly intended as protective factors against adver-
ously on experiences of physical abuse or neglect, emotional abuse sities (e.g., stress immunity, self-assurance, optimism; Patrick et al.,
or neglect, and sexual abuse. Even though empirical investigations in 2009) and is negatively related to neuroticism and negative affectivity
this area have grown only recently, it is not a completely new perspec- (e.g., Sellbom, 2015), both of which share characteristics that are oppo-
tive (e.g., Marshall & Cooke, 1999; Weiler & Widom, 1996). For site to resilience. In contrast, disinhibition and meanness are considered
instance, Meloy (1992) conceptualized the emergence of psychopathic to develop partly as a maladaptive reaction to early adversities and
traits as a defense against the impact of shameful experiences stemming entail personal characteristics that are conceptually consistent with
from severe adversities experienced during childhood, particularly in low levels of resilience, including emotion dysregulation, a general
the form of abuse and neglect within caregiving relationships. propensity toward externalizing behavior, and a deactivation of the
Recent reviews and meta-analysis have shown that—by and large— affiliative system (Patrick, 2022; Patrick et al., 2009). Previous findings
experiences of maltreatment in childhood have robust associations showed that boldness and disinhibition had positive and negative rela-
with psychopathic traits across the board, with small-to-moderate effect tionships with resilience, respectively, whereas inconsistent findings
sizes (de Ruiter et al., 2022; Moreira et al., 2022). Few and largely neg- were reported for meanness (Nowakowski & Wróbel, 2021).
ligible differences were reported depending on the type of maltreat- Although resilience in relation to Hare’s (2003) four-factor model of
ment experienced (e.g., less consistent associations for sexual abuse) psychopathy has been less studied, the reasoning above about disinhi-
or on different dimensions of psychopathy (e.g., relatively weaker bition probably also applies to the analogous behavioral traits
 TRAUMA, RESILIENCE, AND PSYCHOPATHY 3

subsumed in the lifestyle and antisocial factors. With respect to the key sociodemographic variables (i.e., age, gender, occupation, and
interpersonal and affective factors, expectations are more difficult to educational level). Participation was completely voluntary and not
frame. On the one hand, the interpersonal and affective factors partially rewarded. After an introduction on the objectives of the study and a
align with boldness and meanness, respectively, and could follow a briefing on what participation entailed, participants who agreed to par-
similar pattern of associations. On the other hand, the operationaliza- ticipate could choose to complete the survey online or on paper.
tion of both interpersonal and affective factors is largely maladaptive, Before completing the survey, all participants were required to give
and as such, both could follow the pattern of meanness rather than informed consent. To ensure anonymity, no identifying information
boldness. Previous findings have linked lifestyle and antisocial traits was asked in the survey; in addition, those who completed the
of psychopathy negatively with resilience, whereas interpersonal and paper survey were instructed to return it in a sealed envelope directly
affective traits had null or positive associations (Sandvik et al., 2015). to the principal investigator and not to the recruiting students.
Following from the above considerations, the present study fur- Due to a clerical error, most participants who were administered
ther investigates the role of resilience in the link between child the survey online did not provide complete demographic informa-
maltreatment and psychopathy leveraging data from a relatively tion, resulting in a sizeable proportion of missing data for some soci-
large Dutch community sample and examining (a) associations odemographic variables (i.e., up to 48% of missing data for civil
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between retrospective self-reports of childhood traumatic experi- status, source of income, and nationality). Participants with and
ences and psychopathic traits in adulthood and (b) the moderating without missing data on this information did not differ significantly
role of resilience in these associations. In light of the available on any of the main study variables, and these variables were not rel-
findings, we examined childhood traumatic experiences as a com- evant for the main aims of the study. Based on the available data,
posite variable encompassing different types of trauma (i.e., most participants were of Dutch nationality (N = 259, 93.8% of
because of the likely low prevalence of each type in community valid responses), whereas other participants were of Dutch
sample, and because of a generally uniform pattern of associations Antilles (N = 3, 1.1%), Moroccan (N = 1, 0.4%), and Surinamese
with psychopathy), whereas examining psychopathy in relation to (N = 1, 0.4%) nationalities. The civil status of participants who pro-
the four factors of Hare’s (2003) model and the three dimensions vided this information was: single (N = 75, 27.3%), in a relationship
of Patrick’s (2010) model because they bear differential con- (N = 62, 22.5%), married/living together (N = 120, 43.6%),
ceptual and empirical links with both child maltreatment and divorced (N = 8, 2.9%), widow/er (N = 5, 1.8%), or “other” (N =
resilience. 2, 0.7%). Their education level was self-reported as: basic education
We hypothesized that resilience would be positively associated (i.e., elementary school, N = 8, 1.6%), high school (N = 88, 17.3%),
with boldness, whereas meanness, dinhinbition, and the lifestyle vocational training (N = 84, 16.5%), applied university (N = 150,
and antisocial dimensions would be negatively associated with resil- 29.5%), research university (N = 166, 32.6%), or “other” (N = 13,
ience. Tentatively, we also expected negative associations between 2.6%). The research procedure was approved by the Ethics Review
resilience and the interpersonal and affective traits of psychopathy. Board of Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences.
Further, we expected resilience to moderate the child maltreatment-
boldness link by increasing levels of boldness at concurrent high lev- Measures
els of experienced child maltreatment and resilience, whereas child
maltreatment and boldness could be unrelated at low levels of resil- Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-Short Form (CTQ-SF;
ience. In contrast, resilience was expected to moderate the link Bernstein & Fink, 1998)
between child maltreatment and both disinhibition and meanness The Dutch CTQ-SF was used to measure retrospective reports of
(as well as all facets of psychopathy per Hare’s [2003] model) by trauma experienced during childhood (Thombs et al., 2009). The
buffering their reported positive association. That is, at high levels CTQ-SF is a questionnaire including 28 items rated on a 5-point
of resilience, the expected positive association between child mal- Likert scale ranging from 1 (never true) to 5 (very often true) in
treatment and these psychopathic traits would be reduced. response to the stem “When I was growing up…” followed by spe-
cific items each describing a type of traumatic experience. The pre-
Method1
sent study relied on the CTQ-SF total score, which consists of the
Participants and Procedures average score across five subscales: emotional abuse, physical
abuse, sexual abuse, emotional neglect, and physical neglect. Each
The sample consisted of 521 male and female individuals from subscale contains five items, and three additional items measure
the general community in the Netherlands (of which 209 were minimization but were not used as not relevant to the present inves-
men, 40.1%), with an average age of 35.27 years (SD = 15.99; tigation. Internal consistency α was .925 (McDonald’s ω = .933).
range 18–87). Participants were recruited by bachelor and master
students in psychology at a Southern Dutch university. A total of 20
Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC; Davidson &
students recruited at least 25 participants each, with instructions not
Connor, 2016)
only to recruit participants from their proximal social circle, but
also to ask for referrals to people they did not know directly. The Dutch 10-item version of the CD-RISC (Danhof-Pont &
Participants were recruited through personal contact (either in person Schrier, 2006) is a self-reported inventory that measures the
or through social media), being invited to participate in a study on
“personality and emotions.” The only inclusion criteria were age
(18 or older) and sufficient command of the Dutch language. Where 1
Extended and more detailed information about participants’ sociodemo-
possible, students were instructed to adopt a quota sampling proce- graphic characteristics and about measures are reported in the Online
dure, that is, a balanced distribution of recruited individuals across Supplemental Materials.
 4 GAROFALO, DELVECCHIO, BOGAERTS, SELLBOM, AND MAZZESCHI

perceived ability to cope with adversity. Each item gauges partici- measures were all positively correlated in the moderate-to-strong
pants’ agreement with each statement on a Likert-type scale that range, except TriPM Boldness as conceptually expected. The
ranges from 0 (not true at all) to 4 (true nearly all the time). CD-RISC total score was significantly negatively associated with
Internal consistency α was .846 (McDonald’s ω = .851). the SRP affective and antisocial scales, as well as with the TriPM
meanness and disinhibition scales, with small effect size. There was
Self-Report Psychopathy-Short Form (SRP-SF; Paulhus et a large and significant positive relationship between the CD-RISC
al., 2016) total score and the TriPM boldness scale. The CTQ-SF total score
was significantly related to all psychopathy scales, with negative
The Dutch SRP-SF was administered to measure psychopathic sign for TriPM boldness and positive for all other scales, with small
traits according to Hare’s (2003) four-factor model (Gordts et al., effect sizes. Finally, the CTQ-SF and CD-RISC total scores had a
2017; Neumann et al., 2015). The SRP-SF includes 29 items, each small but significant negative relationship.
asking to indicate the degree of agreement with the individual state- Results of the moderated regression analyses are shown in Table 2
ments on a 5-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (disagree strongly) to (and more extensively in Table S2 in the online supplemental mate-
5 (agree strongly). The 29 items are grouped into four separate sub- rials). The CTQ-SF * CD-RISC interaction term significantly
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scales capturing interpersonal, affective, lifestyle, and antisocial

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explained an incremental portion of the variance in all psychopathy

traits. Scale scores are calculated by averaging the items belonging subscales except for TriPM disinhibition.2 Effect sizes ranged
to each scale. Internal consistency αs were .803, .674, .760, and between around 2% and 5% of incremental variance in the depen-
.689 (McDonald’s ωs = .815, .685, .766, and .826) for each scale, dent variables, whereas the whole models (i.e., including main
in the order above. effects) explained roughly between 2% and 10% of the total variance
in the dependent variables, with the exception of TriPM boldness for
Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM; Patrick, 2010) which the total variance explained was around 43% (of which
around 2% explained by the interaction term).
To assess psychopathic traits in line with Patrick et al.’s (2009) tri-
Simple slope analyses estimates are summarized in Table 3 and
archic model, we administered the Dutch version (van Dongen et al.,
reported in full detail (including graphical depictions) in Table S3
2017) of the TriPM, including 58 items. Participants are asked to indi-
and Figures 1 and 2 in the online supplemental materials. For
cate if each item describes them on a 4-point Likert-type scale with
TriPM boldness, only at high levels of resilience (i.e., CD-RISC
responses ranging from 1 (true) to 4 ( false). The TriPM produces
total score) was there a significant association between CTQ-SF
scores of three distinct dimensions: boldness, meanness, and disinhibi-
total scores and boldness traits, with negative sign, whereas their
tion. The internal consistency αs were .827, .864, and .834
association was not significant at low (with positive sign) or average
(McDonald’s ωs = .837, .876, and .852) for each scale, respectively
(with negative sign) levels of resilience. The TriPM meanness scale
(in the order listed above).
was positively associated with CTQ-SF total score only at low levels
of resilience; their association was instead nonsignificant at average
Data Analysis (with positive sign) and high (with negative sign) levels of resilience.
Pearson product–moment correlations with pairwise deletion The SRP-SF interpersonal, lifestyle, and antisocial scale scores were
were calculated to examine the zero-order associations among all positively associated with CTQ-SF total score only at low levels of
study variables. The main research questions were tested through resilience. Instead, their associations were nonsignificant at average
multiple regression analyses with listwise deletion examining the (with positive sign) and high (with negative sign) levels of resilience.
interaction effect of CTQ-SF and CD-RISC scores (mean-centered) The SRP-SF affective scale was positively associated with CTQ-SF
in predicting scores on the SRP-SF and TriPM subcales, one at a total score at low and average (but not high) levels of resilience.
time. We adopted a bootstrapping approach (Hayes, 2013) to esti- Although the interaction effect rendered a nonsignificant result,
mate 95% percentile confidence with 5,000 resamplings. the same pattern was true for the TriPM disinhibition scale, which
Significant interaction effects were probed through simple slopes was also positively associated with CTQ-SF total score at low and
analyses, examining the effect of the predictor (CTQ-SF) on the average (but not high) levels of resilience.
dependent variable at varying levels of the moderator (i.e., −1 SD,
average, and +1 SD of the CD-RISC). Analyses were conducted Discussion
on the whole sample (N = 521) in Jamovi Version 23 (The jamovi
The present study investigated links among childhood traumatic
project, 2022) using the medmod module that operates within R
experiences, resilience, and psychopathic traits in a large sample
(R Core Team, 2021) environment in background and specifically
of community-dwelling adult participants from the Netherlands. In
using the psych package (Revelle, 2019) for correlations and the lav-
doing so, the study contributed to the growing body of research on
aan package (Rosseel, 2012) with maximum likelihood estimation
putative environmental contributions to psychopathic personality
for moderation analysis. Regression analyses were repeated with
traits and possible buffers in the detrimental impact of childhood
ordinary least squares estimation to obtain adjusted R 2 and R 2
traumatic experiences and the manifestation of psychopathy in adult-
change (ΔR 2) not provided in the medmod package.
hood. In particular, we examined the role of resilience as a moderator
of the link between childhood trauma and psychopathy in an attempt
Results
Descriptive statistics and zero-order correlations for all study vari- 2
It should be noted that ordinary least squares estimation used to produce
ables are displayed in Table 1 (see Table S1 in the online supplemental the R2 statistics (see the Data Analysis section) rendered a significant interac-
materials for more details). The subscales across psychopathy tion effect for disinhibition as well.
 TRAUMA, RESILIENCE, AND PSYCHOPATHY 5

Table 1
Means, Standard Deviations, and Zero-Order Correlations for All Study Variables (N = 521)
Measures M (SD) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
1. SRP interpersonal 1.81 (0.66) —
2. SRP affective 1.76 (0.57) .678*** —
3. SRP lifestyle 1.95 (0.67) .666*** .643*** —
4. SRP antisocial 1.19 (0.39) .468*** .449*** .473*** —
5. TriPM boldness 30.42 (8.40) .188*** .124** .238*** .058 —
6. TriPM meanness 10.40 (7.91) .626*** .687*** .629*** .382*** .182*** —
7. TriPM disinhibition 12.16 (7.23) .512*** .470*** .632*** .417*** −.044 .604*** —
8. CD-RISC total 26.49 (5.33) −.021 −.127** −.003 −.167*** .642*** −.092* −.220*** —
9. CTQ-SF total 1.66 (0.40) .150*** .198*** .097* .141** −.115** .154*** .227*** −.149***
Note. SRP = Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, Short Form; TriPM = Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; CD-RISC = Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale;
CTQ-SF = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Short Form.
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* p , .05. ** p , .01. *** p , .001.

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to inform developmental models of psychopathy with an emphasis Sandvik et al., 2015; Wu et al., 2019). Specifically, we reported neg-
on trauma. ative associations between resilience and the affective (callousness,
First, our findings corroborated existing research (for a review, see lack of empathy) and antisocial (aggression, criminal behavior) traits
de Ruiter et al., 2022) showing a significant association between ret- of psychopathy from Hare’s (2003) four-factor model. Consistently,
rospective reports of childhood trauma and psychopathic traits that negative associations were reported between resilience and the mean-
were generally small in effect size. The size of the effect is neverthe- ness and disinhibition dimensions of Patrick’s (2010) triarchic model.
less not trivial given that traumatic experiences are general transdiag- The lack of associations with the lifestyle factor of the SRP-SF sug-
nostic risk factors for psychopathology and likely represent distal gests that psychopathic traits linked to lower resilience are primarily
rather than proximate correlates of psychopathology (McLaughlin about emotion dysregulation and aggression (captured by SRP-SF
et al., 2020; Sunderland et al., 2016), including psychopathy. Our antisocial and TriPM disinhibition scales) and less by impulsivity
findings were in line with expectation of positive associations with and irresponsibility (which define the SRP-SF lifestyle facet).
psychopathy spanning interpersonal, affective, and behavioral traits, In line with the partly similar content of Hare’s (2003) interper-
with the exception of boldness, which showed expected negative sonal facet and Patrick’s (2010) boldness dimension, these two
relations with childhood traumatic experiences (Patrick et al., scales also differed in their relation to resilience compared to other
2009). These findings are consistent with previous suggestions traits of the psychopathy construct. However, consistent with the
(e.g., Meloy, 1992; Schimmenti et al., 2015) stressing the role of greater emphasis on adaptive features in boldness compared to the
traumatic experiences during childhood—especially in the context interpersonal facet, the former had a strong positive association
of close relationships with caregivers—as putative contributing fac- with resilience, whereas the latter had a null association. The large
tors to the development of traits such as manipulation, callousness, effect size of the boldness-resilience relation supports the idea that
disinhibition, and overt aggressive or antisocial behavior. In con- boldness represents a largely adaptive component of psychopathy,
trast, and in line with existing knowledge (Eisenbarth & Garofalo, defined by a relative immunity to stress and the capacity to bounce
2021; Patrick et al., 2009; Tuvblad et al., 2019), boldness traits rep- back in the face of adversity (Cleckley, 1941; Crego & Widiger,
resent the exception within the construct of psychopathy, such that 2016; Lilienfeld et al., 2015). The same relevance to traits related
childhood traumatic experiences were negatively related to boldness. to resilience is not captured in Hare’s (2003) four-factor model
Next, we extended current knowledge documenting small and neg- that defines psychopathy as a largely maladaptive syndrome. Yet,
ative relationships between childhood traumatic experiences and resil- some of the traits that characterize boldness do overlap with the
ience and reporting associations between resilience had negative interpersonal (e.g., grandiosity, dominance) and lifestyle (e.g., risk-
associations with some but not all psychopathic traits, replicating, taking) facets and may explain why these two facets had null rather
and extending previous findings (Nowakowski & Wróbel, 2021; than positive links with resilience.

Table 2
Summary of Moderation Analyses Predicting Psychopathy Scores (N = 521)
TriPM boldness TriPM meanness TriPM disinhibition SRP interpersonal SRP affective SRP lifestyle SRP antisocial
Dependent variable Est. Est. Est. Est. Est. Est. Est.
Independent variables
CTQ-SF −1.189 1.527 2.949** 0.161 0.191** 0.095 0.061
CD-RISC 1.059*** −0.031 −0.226*** 0.004 −0.007 0.005 −0.008
CTQ-SF × CD-RISC −0.345** −0.561** −0.263 −0.035** −0.030** −0.030* −0.024*
Adjusted R 2 .43 .08 .10 .05 .07 .02 .08
ΔR 2 .02 .05 .01 .03 .03 .02 .04
Note. TriPM = Triarchic Psychopathy; CTQ-SF = Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Short Form; CD-RISC = Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale; SRP =
Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, Short Form; Est. = estimate.
* p , .05. ** p , .01. *** p , .001.
 6 GAROFALO, DELVECCHIO, BOGAERTS, SELLBOM, AND MAZZESCHI

Table 3
Summary of Simple Slopes Analyses Probing Interaction Effects (N = 521)
TriPM boldness TriPM meanness TriPM disinhibition SRP interpersonal SRP affective SRP lifestyle SRP antisocial
Dependent variable Est. Est. Est. Est. Est. Est. Est.
Levels of the moderator
Average −1.20 1.51 2.94** 0.16 0.19** 0.09 0.06
Low (−1 SD) 0.65 4.51** 4.35** 0.35*** 0.35*** 0.25** 0.19*
High (+1 SD) −3.05** −1.50 1.53 −0.03 0.03 −0.06 −0.07
Note. TriPM = Triarchic Psychopathy Measure; SRP = Self-Report Psychopathy Scale, Short Form; Est. = estimate. Each column shows the effect of the
predictor (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire Short Form total score) on the dependent variable indicated on top of each column, at different levels of the
moderator (Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale total score).
* p , .05. ** p , .01. *** p , .001.

The main contribution of our study consisted of the examination resilience and boldness at the zero-order level, individuals with
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of statistical interactions between childhood traumatic experiences high levels of resilience who reported traumatic experiences during
and resilience in predicting scores of psychopathy. By and large, childhood were less likely to report high levels of boldness com-
we found evidence in support of the moderating role of resilience pared to those who did not report childhood traumatic experiences.
in the childhood trauma–psychopathy link. In fact, six out of This finding does not appear to support the possibility that boldness
seven interaction models yielded significant increments in explained represents a resilient response to adverse experiences (Patrick et al.,
variance in psychopathic traits above and beyond the main effects of 2009), at least in the case of childhood traumatic experiences.
child maltreatment and resilience. Specifically, all dependent vari- Although boldness captures traits that are functional for the per-
ables were significantly predicted by the Trauma × Resilience inter- sonal adaptation of an individual, and boldness on average is related
action, except the TriPM disinhibition scale, which however showed to higher levels of resilience, the present findings suggest that indi-
a similar pattern in the follow-up simple slopes analysis. Although, viduals who are resilient and have suffered childhood traumatic
as typical for interaction effects, the magnitudes of those effects were experiences may develop personal characteristics that are actually
small, they bear potentially meaningful implications and were strik- opposed to boldness. For example, one might speculate about traits
ing in their consistency across psychopathic traits, clearly showing like interpersonal sensitivity (as opposed to social dominance), harm
that the childhood trauma–psychopathy link varied as a function avoidance (as opposed to risk taking), and modesty (as opposed to
of individual differences in resilience. grandiosity). Another possibility is a statistical artifact through sup-
Specifically, we found evidence that childhood traumatic experi- pression. As noted earlier, boldness and resilience are highly related,
ences were positively linked to affective, interpersonal, and behavio- perhaps to the point where resilience is subsumed within boldness.
ral traits of psychopathy only at low levels of resilience (only for Accordingly, many have argued that boldness might serve as a pro-
SRP-SF affective, this effect was significant also at average levels tective factor for the other traits with respect to various internalizing
of resilience). In contrast, at high levels of resilience, childhood trau- problems and suicidality (Bowes et al., 2019; Sellbom, 2015;
matic experiences were unrelated with scores of psychopathic traits. Venables et al., 2015).3 In such case, the interaction effect might
Overall, these findings suggest that, in the absence of resilient char- just indicate the weak negative association between resilience and
acteristics, exposure to traumatic experiences during childhood are childhood trauma which is exponentiated when both are highly ele-
associated with personality traits that are fundamentally antagonistic vated. Given the novelty of these findings, any speculations just
and hostile (DeLisi, Drury, et al., 2021; Garofalo et al., 2019; offered will obviously require further scrutiny and conceptual
Gillespie et al., 2023; Meloy, 1992; Schimmenti et al., 2015); poten- elaboration.
tially these traits may represent a maladaptive form of coping with Taken together and qualifying previously reported bivariate asso-
the traumatic experience (Buck et al., 2012; Johansson et al., ciations between childhood trauma and psychopathy, the present
2021; Klein Tuente et al., 2019; Meloy, 1992). Allowing for some findings suggest that among individuals who are more resilient,
degree of speculation about potential developmental pathways childhood traumatic experiences are related to lower levels of bold-
based on a cross-sectional snapshot, these findings suggest that resil- ness and no significant elevations on any other psychopathic traits.
ience may buffer against the development of psychopathic traits, In contrast, among those who are less resilient, childhood traumatic
such that individuals who experience childhood traumatic experi- experiences are related to elevations in psychopathic traits across
ences but possess average-to-high levels of resilience are less likely interpersonal, affective, and behavioral traits of psychopathy, but
to develop psychopathic traits. not boldness. Either way, resilience appears protective against eleva-
An unexpected finding concerned boldness. Unlike hypothesized, tions on psychopathic traits across the board among individuals
the significant interaction effect predicting boldness followed the
same—rather than the opposite—pattern of all other traits of psy-
chopathy, although with some differentiation in the significance 3
To address this possibility, further analyses (see the online supplemental
and direction of the individual slopes. In the case of boldness, at materials) examined the interaction effect between childhood traumatic expe-
high levels of resilience, childhood traumatic experiences were not riences (i.e., CTQ-SF total score) and the TriPM boldness scale in predicting
simply unrelated, but were actually negatively related to boldness scores of the other psychopathy scales. None of the interaction effects was
significant, suggesting that the significant interactions reported in the present
traits. In contrast, the association between childhood traumatic expe- study were specific to our measure of resilience and did not extend to the
riences and boldness was not significant at average or low levels of broader construct of boldness, at least as operationalized in the TriPM bold-
resilience. Therefore, despite a strong positive association between ness scale.
 TRAUMA, RESILIENCE, AND PSYCHOPATHY 7

exposed to traumatic experiences during childhood. This pattern of In conclusion, the present study advances current knowledge on the
findings is potentially interesting for two main reasons. First, interrelations among childhood traumatic experience, resilience, and
because it shows that the impact of trauma on psychopathic traits psychopathic personality, with important theoretical and practical
depends both on the specific dimension of psychopathy examined implications. First, we showed that childhood traumatic experiences
and individual differences in resilience (Bertoldi et al., 2022; may represent a consequential developmental factor for the clinical
Patrick et al., 2009). Second, because it supports the possibility of construct of psychopathy. Second, we showed that psychopathic traits
different variants of psychopathy characterized by elevations on differ in their relation with resilience, such that only boldness is asso-
some but not other traits that could bear differential associations ciated with higher resilience. Third, and most crucially, we showed
with environmental (here, childhood trauma) and individual (here, that resilience may represent a potentially important buffer in the child-
resilience) characteristics (Drislane et al., 2014; Gillespie et al., hood trauma–psychopathy link. On the one hand, by buffering against
2021; Hicks & Drislane, 2018; Sellbom & Drislane, 2021). increases in clearly maladaptive traits such as interpersonal manipula-
Limitations of the present study needs to be acknowledged. Some tion, callousness, meanness, disinhibition, impulsivity, aggression,
are common in social sciences research and concern the sole reliance and antisociality; on the other hand, by contributing to decreases in
on self-report measure, and the cross-sectional, correlational design. levels of boldness, capturing traits that are likely adaptive for the indi-
This article is intended solely for the personal use of the individual user and is not to be disseminated broadly.
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Specifically, our design did not allow to consider the potential role vidual but potentially maladaptive for their impact on others.
of levels of psychopathic traits assessed before exposure to childhood
traumatic experiences. Specifically, the use of retrospective reports of
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