Psychophysiological Reactivity Profiles of Partner-Violent Men With Borderline or Psychopathic Personality Features: The Role of Empathy

• Date: 01 August 2018
• Published date: 01 August 2018
• Author: Julia C. Babcock,Nicholas A. Armenti
• DOI: 10.1177/0306624X17740029
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X17740029

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2018, Vol. 62(11) 3337 –3354

© The Author(s) 2017

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X17740029

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Article

Psychophysiological Reactivity

Profiles of Partner-Violent

Men With Borderline or

Psychopathic Personality

Features: The Role of

Empathy

Nicholas A. Armenti1 and Julia C. Babcock1

Abstract

Borderline and psychopathic features have been linked to unique psychophysiological

reactivity profiles. Studies have suggested that levels of psychophysiological reactivity

for partner-violent men cannot be attributed to personality features alone. This

study tested cognitive and affective empathy as moderators of relations between

borderline personality, Factor 1 psychopathy, and psychophysiological reactivity

using a community sample of 135 male participants and their female partners.

Cognitive empathy moderated the relation between borderline personality features

and heart rate reactivity. Affective empathy moderated the relation between Factor

1 psychopathy features and heart rate reactivity. However, directions of these

interactions were contrary to original predictions. Understanding unique empathy

deficits may be beneficial for identifying ways to minimize relationship conflict, manage

arousal, and decrease violence.

Keywords

borderline personality, psychopathy, psychophysiological reactivity, intimate partner

violence

1University of Houston, TX, USA

Corresponding Author:

Nicholas A. Armenti, Department of Psychology, University of Houston, 126 Heyne Building, Houston,

TX 77204, USA.

Email: naarmenti@uh.edu

740029IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X17740029International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyArmenti and Babcock

research-article2017

3338 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 62(11)

Researchers have instituted many frameworks through which to characterize partner-

violent men, including but not limited to, their use of proactive or reactive violence

(Chase, O’Leary, & Heyman, 2001), personality disorders (Ross & Babcock, 2009),

heart rate change (Gottman, Jacobson, Rushe, & Shortt, 1995), control tactics (Johnson,

2008), and attachment styles (Babcock, Jacobson, Gottman, & Yerington, 2000).

Although these distinctions provide a useful foundation, they often fail to consider the

significant overlap of features and behaviors that are present in different types of part-

ner-violent men. To synthesize the multiple typologies of partner-violent men,

Holtzworth-Munroe and Stuart (1994) developed a meta-typology based on severity

of violence, generality of violence, and personality and psychopathological character-

istics. The subtypes they created include generally violent/antisocial, borderline/dys-

phoric, and family-only men. Although this meta-typology encompasses important

differences among partner-violent men, it nonetheless fails to sufficiently account for

the overlap of characteristics. In particular, features of borderline personality disorder

(BPD) and antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) are highly comorbid, sharing symp-

toms such as impulsivity and externalizing problems (Hamberger, Lohr, Bonge, and

Tolin (1996). As such, the current study contrasted borderline personality features and

a theoretically distinct factor of psychopathy, rather than antisocial personality, among

partner-violent men.

Borderline and Psychopathic Features and Intimate

Partner Violence (IPV)

Researchers have demonstrated that a BPD diagnosis—which is characterized by vari-

ous combinations of pervasive instability in interpersonal relationships, poor self-

image, emotion regulation deficits, and fears of real or perceived abandonment—increases

the propensity for men to be violent with intimate partners (Costa & Babcock, 2008).

Although BPD has traditionally been conceptualized by the presence of self-directed

aggression, researchers have investigated connections between a range of BPD char-

acteristics and externalizing behaviors related to violence, including mood instability,

anger, feelings of jealousy, and fear of abandonment (Liu et al., 2012). In the context

of mood disturbances, “affective instability” and “unstable, intense relationships” spe-

cifically account for a significant portion of violence escalation in these individuals

(Raine, 1993). Further supporting the link between BPD and violence, researchers

identified the association between BPD and severe forms of violence even after con-

trolling for Axis I disorders like depression and anxiety (Bouchard, Sabourin, Lussier,

& Villeneuve, 2009).

Although ASPD and BPD have shared developmental origins (Waltz, Babcock,

Jacobson, & Gottman, 2000), psychopathy, on the contrary, is conceptually distinct

from BPD. Psychopathy is broadly conceptualized by diminished remorse, manipula-

tiveness, callousness, deceitfulness, and violation of social norms (Hare, 2003) and is

a strong predictor of both general violence and IPV (Leistico, Salekin, DeCoster, &

Rogers, 2008). Psychopathic partner-violent men tend to have little investment in

moral values, be impulsive, lack remorse, and tend to manipulate others (Fowler &