When the Partner’s Reality Bites: Associations Between Self- and Partner Ratings of Psychopathic Traits, Relationship Quality and Conflict Tactics

• Author: Kasia Uzieblo,Mieke Decuyper,Patricia Bijttebier,Lesley Verhofstadt
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X221086560
• Published date: 01 November 2022
• Date: 01 November 2022
• Subject Matter: Articles

https://doi.org/10.1177/0306624X221086560

International Journal of

Offender Therapy and

Comparative Criminology

2022, Vol. 66(15) 1659 –1681

© The Author(s) 2022

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DOI: 10.1177/0306624X221086560

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Article

When the Partner’s Reality

Bites: Associations Between

Self- and Partner Ratings

of Psychopathic Traits,

Relationship Quality and

Conflict Tactics

Kasia Uzieblo1,2 , Mieke Decuyper3,

Patricia Bijttebier4, and Lesley Verhofstadt5

Abstract

The present study examined associations of self- and partner-reported psychopathic

traits, as well as the level of agreement between these reports (perceptual accuracy), with

relationship quality, and the moderating role of violent and non-violent conflict tactics.

Participants were 259 heterosexual couples from the community. Results indicated

that, despite moderate convergence between self- and partner-reports, the female

partners tended to underreport the levels of psychopathic traits in their male partner.

Relationship quality was negatively associated with partner-reported and, albeit to a

lesser extent, self-reported psychopathic traits. Contrary to expectations, perceptual

accuracy was barely associated with relationship quality. Whereas no evidence was found

for the moderating role of aggressive conflict tactics, non-violent negotiation seemed

to buffer the effect of psychopathic traits on relationship quality. The study highlights

the importance of considering the partner’s perceptions as well as constructive conflict

tactics when examining psychopathic traits in intimate relationships.

Keywords

psychopathy, relationship quality, intimate partner violence, negotiation, conflict

tactics

1The Forensic Care Specialists, Utrecht, The Netherlands

2Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium

3Thomas More University College, Antwerp, Belgium

4KU Leuven, Belgium

5Ghent University, Belgium

Corresponding Author:

Kasia Uzieblo, The Forensic Care Specialists, Willem Dreeslaan 2, Utrecht 3515 GB, The Netherlands.

Email: kuzieblo@dfzs.nl

1086560IJOXXX10.1177/0306624X221086560International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative CriminologyUzieblo et al.

research-article2022

1660 International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 66(15)

Introduction

Psychopathy is a multi-dimensional personality construct consisting of deviant affec-

tive (e.g., callousness, shallow emotions), interpersonal (e.g., grandiosity, pathological

lying), and behavioral traits (e.g., impulsiveness, irresponsible lifestyle). Psychopathy

is regarded as a dimensionally distributed construct in males and females (i.e., varying

by degree across individuals) (Guay et al., 2007, 2018), that manifests a relatively

similar nomological network in institutionalized and non-institutionalized samples

(Uzieblo et al., 2007; Vachon et al., 2012). Psychopathy is related to various destruc-

tive interpersonal, and thus by definition, anti-social behaviors, including violent and

non-violent criminal behavior (Boduszek et al., 2017), and interpersonally challenging

non-criminal behavior that cause suffering in others (Leedom et al., 2012).

It has long been argued that psychopathic individuals do not form enduring rela-

tionships with others (Cleckley, 1988), let alone enduring, loving, and satisfying

romantic relationships. In line with this assumption, psychopathy is found to be related

to insecure attachment styles toward the romantic partner (Brewer et al., 2018), short-

term mating preferences (Jonason et al., 2009), a game-play love style (Jonason &

Kavanagh, 2010), jealousy induction (Massar et al., 2017), and infidelity (Jones &

Weiser, 2014). Notwithstanding, individuals with psychopathic traits do engage in

romantic relationships, even in long-lasting ones. Taking the numerous undesirable

personality characteristics and behaviors of psychopathy into account, such as the

inclination of individuals with higher levels of psychopathy to exhibit dominant, lying,

egocentric and callous behavior, to name a few, it is believed that they will mainly

cause mayhem and havoc within these relationships. This assumption is exemplified

in several autobiographic stories of women who have endured severe trauma due to

their relationship with a presumed psychopathic partner (Bentley, 2008; Brown, 2015).

Despite these gripping and often terrifying narratives, more research going beyond the

qualitative and descriptive nature of these findings is needed in order to further our

understanding of the manifestation of psychopathic traits within intimate relation-

ships. The current study therefore aimed to examine (1) the degree of agreement

between the male’s self-reported psychopathic traits and how he is described by his

female partner (i.e., perceptual accuracy), (2) the associations between psychopathic

traits in the male partner as evaluated by himself (self-reported) and by his female

partner (partner-reported) and relationship quality, and (3) the moderating role of vio-

lent and non-violent conflict tactics on the association between partner-reported psy-

chopathic traits and relationship quality. Below we provide some background on these

main features of our investigation.

The Complex Dynamics Between Psychopathy and Relationship Quality

Relationship quality refers to the subjective evaluation of the relationship (Fincham &

Rogge, 2010). Studying relationship quality and its determinants is of high impor-

tance: Relationship quality has manifold consequences for the relationship (e.g., sta-

bility of the relationship) and the physical and psychosocial health of those involved