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Psychopathy and Suicide: The Mediating Effects of Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation

Fadoir, Nicholas Alan
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1510423741997145

Abstract Details

2017, Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Dayton, Psychology, Clinical.
Psychopathy is recognized as a heterogeneous condition with empirical support behind the subtypes primary and secondary (Skeem, Poythress, Edens, Lilienfeld, & Cale, 2003). Research indicates differential patterns of associations between psychopathy subtypes and suicide whereby secondary psychopathy is positively related to suicidal ideations and attempts, and primary psychopathy is either negatively or unrelated to suicidal ideations and attempts (Verona, Hicks, & Patrick, 2005; Verona, Patrick, & Joiner, 2001). In seeking to explain the differential pattern of associations between psychopathy subtypes and suicide, the present study drew upon two modern frameworks for understanding self-injury: the emotional cascade model (Selby, Anestis, & Joiner, 2008) and interpersonal theory of suicide (IPTS; Joiner, 2005). The emotional cascade model attempts to understand how emotional and cognitive dysfunction combine to predict behavioral dysregulation such as non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The IPTS hypothesizes that an attempt at suicide requires the presence of both the desire for death and the capability to act on said desire and that these processes operate independently of one another. A history of painful and provocative experiences, such as NSSI, is believed to incrementally contribute to an acquired capability for suicide, increasing a tolerance for pain and decreasing the fear of death. Likewise, research has found that a history of NSSI is elevated in individuals that act on their suicidal ideations versus those that do not (Klonsky, May, & Glenn, 2013). In the present study, specific cognitive, affective, and behavioral features integral to the emotional cascade model and IPTS, as well as present in secondary psychopathy, were hypothesized to contribute to a history of suicide attempts in a sample of 204 male and female offenders. A serial mediation analysis was conducted to test if the association between secondary psychopathy and suicide attempts was best explained through the indirect path of emotion dysregulation, rumination, suicidal ideation, and NSSI. The results supported this pattern of events, as the above variables sequentially mediated the relationship between secondary psychopathy and suicide attempts. Additional findings related to further differentiating psychopathy subtypes will be discussed, as will implications, limitations, and future directions.
Catherine Lutz-Zois (Advisor)
Jackson Goodnight (Committee Member)
Lee Dixon (Committee Member)
94 p.
Clinical Psychology; Personality
suicide; psychopathy; emotion dysregulation; non-suicidal self-injury; rumination; suicidal ideation; acquired capability; distress tolerance

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Fadoir, N. A. (2017). Psychopathy and Suicide: The Mediating Effects of Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation [Master's thesis, University of Dayton]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1510423741997145

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Fadoir, Nicholas. Psychopathy and Suicide: The Mediating Effects of Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation. 2017. University of Dayton, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1510423741997145.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Fadoir, Nicholas. "Psychopathy and Suicide: The Mediating Effects of Emotional and Behavioral Dysregulation." Master's thesis, University of Dayton, 2017. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=dayton1510423741997145

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

dayton1510423741997145
2,102
© 2017, all rights reserved.
This open access ETD is published by University of Dayton and OhioLINK.