Psychopathic and borderline traits in a college sample: Personality profiles and relations to self-directed and other-directed aggression

Previous research suggests that the association of psychopathic and borderline traits increases overall psychopathology (e.g., depression, anxiety, emotional distress, impulsivity, and aggressive behavior). This study aimed to investigate self- and other-directed aggression in personality profiles characterized by different levels of psychopathic and borderline traits. Participants were 622 university students (79.90% females and 20.10% males) who received measures of psychopathic traits, borderline traits, and self- and other-directed aggression. Hierarchical clustering was used to determine the optimal number of clusters, followed by K-means to assign each participant to one of the identified clusters. We identified four groups: A high psychopathic and borderline traits cluster (H), a low psychopathic and borderline traits cluster (L), a high psychopathic and low borderline traits cluster (P), and a high borderline and low psychopathic traits cluster (B). The P-cluster was characterized by higher levels of other-directed, and the B-cluster by higher levels of self-directed aggression. The H-cluster was characterized by the highest levels of both self- and other-directed aggression. The results of this study suggest that there is a significant minority of university students characterized by the presence of both psychopathic and borderline traits with higher levels of self- and other-directed aggression.

Automated summary

The study found a significant minority of university students characterized by both psychopathic and borderline traits, exhibiting higher levels of self- and other-directed aggression.