Profiling Antisocial Personality Traits Among Pakistani Adults: Domain-Specific Differences Across Gender
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.69980/ajpr.v29i1.917Keywords:
antisocial personality traits; gender differences; personality functioning; antisocial behaviorAbstract
Antisocial personality traits include a variety of socially dysfunctional or maladaptive behavioral, emotional and interpersonal attributes that lead to dysfunction within the individual or society (Fisher et al., 2024). Although a lot of research work has been conducted both nationally and internationally, there is little evidence available about the prevalence and domain-specific expression of antisocial personality traits among Pakistani adults (Marzilli et al., 2021). The purpose of this study was to profile antisocial personality characteristics and to compare differences between the various major domains of antisocial personality across gender. A quantitative cross sectional research design was used. A convenient sampling method was used to gather data from 567 adults in Pakistan. The antisocial personality traits were evaluated by the Antisocial Personality Disorder Test created by Skowroński (2022). IBM SPSS Statistics was used for descriptive statistics, classifications based on tertiles, chi-square analysis, and independent-samples t-tests. The scale had a good internal consistency (α = .88). The descriptive results showed that the most salient domains were egocentrism, risk taking, incapacity for intimate relationships, while physical aggression had the least mean score. Subjects were distributed about equally across low, moderate and high scores on the antisocial personality traits. Significant gender differences emerged for all antisocial personality traits, physical aggression, absence of prosocial standards, lack of guilt or remorse, failure to form intimate relationships, and risk taking; males scored higher than females. There were no significant gender differences for lack of empathy, egocentrism or manipulativeness. These were statistically significant results but in general small effect sizes. The results are consistent with the multidimensionality of the antisocial personality traits and indigenous information on prevalence and gender differences in the distribution of these traits among Pakistani adults. The findings stress the need for an assessment tailored to the specific context in order to gain a better understanding of antisocial personality functioning and to inform the development of culturally relevant prevention and intervention programs.
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