Autistic and Psychopathic Traits among a Community-based Sample of Adults

ABSTRACT

Little is known about the shared and separate traits for adults diagnosed with some form of psychopathy and autism. The primary distinction between a person with autism versus psychopathy is that a person with autistic traits is often unaware that their behavior is aversive to other people while a person with psychopathic traits is typically can articulate that their behaviors inflict pain or discomfort on other people they but still exhibit the offensive behavior. The primary purpose this was to examine the relation between psychopathic and autistic traits among a general population sample of adults. Next, we examined for overlap (or shared variance) and differences in psychopathy scores among individuals who met the ASD screening score cutoff, high levels of psychopathy traits, or both high levels of ASD and psychopathy traits. Results suggested that individuals of with high levels of ASD traits had the most severely impaired social interaction skills, while people with high levels of psychopathy traits had the highest levels of restricted and repetitive behavior. These preliminary results are discussed in terms of implications for future research on the possible comorbidity of autism and psychopathy traits, and how these two historically separate research literatures may benefit from collaboration across investigators in these two fields of mental disorders.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lucy Barnard-Brak

Dr. Lucy Barnard-Brak is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. She received her Ph.D. in educational psychology from Texas Tech University. Dr. Barnard-Brak has previously been on faculty at Baylor University and Texas Tech University. Her research pivots on examining the educational experiences and outcomes of individuals with disabilities with special emphases on Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. She applies advanced quantitative techniques to these areas of research.

Dr. David M. Richman is a Professor of Educational Psychology and Leadership. He received his Ph.D. in school psychology and minor in applied behavior analysis from the University of Iowa, and he completed a research postdoctoral fellowship at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Kennedy Krieger Institute. Dr. Richman has previously been on faculty at the University of Kansas School of Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore County, and the University of Illinois. Dr. Richman’s areas of research include: assessment and treatment of problem behavior; phenotypic expression of genetic disorders correlated with intellectual disabilities and severe behavior problems; family resiliency, parenting stress, and familial quality of life.