Autistic individuals are at an increased risk of experiencing victimisation. Previous reviews have focussed specific types of victimisation. Thus, a clearer picture considering the range of victimisation experiences autistic people face is required. This systematic review aims to identify the prevalence of victimisation in autistic individuals considering a variety of victimisation types (e.g., bulling, sexual victimisation, and crime) in both adults and children from clinical and community settings. Through systematic searches of relevant databases, 291 studies met the criteria for review. Of those, 34 studies met the inclusion criteria: a) quantitative studies, b) involving autistic individuals, c) reporting prevalence rates of victimisation. Meta-analysis found a pooled prevalence rate of victimisation of 44% in autistic individuals. Subgroup analysis examined moderating factors as high heterogeneity was present. This found the pooled prevalence rates for bullying to be 47%, 16% for child abuse, 40% for sexual victimisation, 13% for cyberbullying, and 84% for multiple forms of victimisation in autistic individuals, though heterogeneity remained. Correction for participants' age, reporter used, and the population which the sample was recruited from did not reduce heterogeneity. Although heterogeneity impedes the definitive interpretation of the findings, this review illustrates the need for strategies and interventions to reduce the incidence of victimisation.

Purpose This study aims to investigate the influence of social camouflaging on victimisation and offending in relation to autism and pathological demand avoidance (PDA) traits. Camouflaging aims to overcome or conceal difficulties in social and communication skills. Autistic individuals report camouflaging in response to threat and being verbally and physically assaulted when they have not camouflaged. Thus, camouflaging could be associated with victimisation. Camouflaging could also impact on specialist support available to an individual, potentially increasing the risk of victimisation or offending. Design/methodology/approach Cross-sectional study was conducted using 220 participants from the general population who completed online questionnaires measuring victimisation and offending, autism and PDA traits, camouflaging and symptoms of depression and anxiety. Findings Correlational analysis found positive associations between camouflaging and victimisation, and camouflaging and lifetime offending. Greater camouflaging and PDA traits predicted greater offending, whereas greater autism traits predicted fewer offending behaviours. While correlated, camouflaging was not significantly predictive of victimisation. Victimisation was predicted by symptoms of depression and PDA traits. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to consider camouflaging as an influencing factor on offending and victimisation in autistic and PDA individuals.

Previous research suggests that individuals with increased sadistic traits may seek out opportunities to exercise cruelty towards others. This study extends research which has examined the emotional processing of individuals with increased sadistic traits. Results showed that all dark traits were significantly correlated with experiencing positive emotion in response to violent stimuli. This study also examined the relationship between sadism and the temperamental traits of the behavioural inhibition and approach systems. Results suggest that sadism could be understood as a high-approach low-avoidance temperamental trait. A structural equation model predicting emotional processing was constructed; a direct pathway was found between sadism and positive emotional responding to violent stimuli and lack of negative emotion to violent stimuli, over and above latent dark tetrad antagonism. Dark tetrad traits were predictive of a deficit in BIS-Anxiety. Implications of these findings are discussed.

PURPOSE:Research suggests that physical, psychological, and/or sexual focussed Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is related to the dark triad (DT) traits of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism. This study extends these findings by considering the addition of everyday sadism into the four-dimension dark tetrad (DTET), testing the possibility that moral disengagement (MD) mediates the relationship between these variables. It was also examined whether the DTET provided incremental validity to the more general personality traits Honesty-Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, Openness (HEXACO) to predict IPV.METHOD:Males and females (N = 416) from the general population completed five questionnaires in an online survey (HEXACO-60, MMEA, PMDS, CTS2S, SD4).RESULTS:A principal component factor-analysis found that sexual IPV did not load as an individual factor and distinct form of violence on the CTS2S scale so was excluded from this study. Four hierarchical multiple regressions were conducted, using the demographics, HEXACO and either the DTET traits or an overall DTET variable as predictor variables, and either physical or psychological IPV as the dependent variables. Only psychopathy predicted physical and psychological IPV; MD mediated the relationship between psychopathy and psychological IPV. Although the DTET added incremental validity over HEXACO to predict physical IPV, HEXACO low Agreeableness was the strongest predictor of psychological IPV.CONCLUSIONS:Those higher in psychopathy may show different offending trajectories for physical and psychological IPV dependent upon the use of MD processes. Despite the DTET adding incremental validity over the HEXACO dimensions, some HEXACO elements better explain the relationship between personality and psychological IPV than the DTET.

Background: Everyday sadism is unique among the dark personality traits that form the Dark Tetrad. Whilst it shares the Dark Core of Personality with psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, it is theoretically distinct from the other members in that involves an appetite for cruelty. Objective: Given mounting evidence of everyday sadism being associated with socially aversive behaviour, and its potential utility in predicting harmful behaviour within the general population; the current review examined the relationship between sadism and aggressive behaviour. Data sources: Seven well-established electronic bibliographic databases and two other sources were systematically searched. Supplementary searches were employed. Study selection: The initial search identified 627 full-text articles. Following application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 39 full-text articles inclusive of 52 studies were subject to quality assessment. Data was extracted from 52 studies, with 48 studies eligible for quantitative synthesis. Data synthesis: Correlational analyses were the most common method of examining sadism and aggression. A multi-method approach was employed to standardize effect sizes into a common metric (correlation coefficient). A meta-analysis was conducted using 57 effect sizes from 48 studies with 22,179 participants, revealing a pooled correlation coefficient of 0.35 (95% CI = 0.29, 0.40). Significant heterogeneity was observed which warranted sensitivity and subgroup analyses. Conclusions: Overall, a moderate relationship was found between subclinical sadism and aggressive behaviour, as defined by acts ranging from verbal to physical, and sexual aggression and violence. A stronger, moderate relationship was found between sadism and perpetration of aggressive behaviour online, indicating that anonymity may unleash the darker side of personality within the general population. The implications of this finding are considered.

As the Offender Personality Disorder (OPD) pathway continues to expand in Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, the diversity and characteristics of offender populations accessing the pathway becomes an important area of study. This was the first controlled study to investigate the risk, personality, readiness to change and reflective functioning abilities of offenders accessing a range of OPD prison services and make comparisons with offenders from the wider non-OPD-accessing prison population. A total of 105 males participated. OPD-accessing groups included; a Progression Psychologically Informed Planned Environment (PIPE), a Provision PIPE and an OPD Outreach Service (OPD-OS). The study found significant differences between risk, personality pathology, difficulties maintaining change and reflective functioning abilities of offenders accessing the OPD services when compared to the wider prison population. The OPD-OS service caseload emerged as a particularly high risk and needs group. Further implications for service development and future directions are considered.

Previous studies have found inconsistent results regarding the personality predictors of scholastic cheating. This study investigated whether personality was a predictor of scholastic cheating using the HEXACO-60 personality inventory and the Dark Triad (DT). A sample of 252 students completed the online questionnaire. Results from a one-way ANOVA showed that scholastic cheating was more common in associate degree/diploma/foundation students and undergraduate students than postgraduate students. Year of study or student status (local or international students) had no effect on scholastic cheating. MANOVA showed that academic qualification, year of study, and student status had no effect on reasons for cheating. A structural equation model (SEM) found that scholastic cheating was positively predicted by unmitigated achievement and psychopathy. Psychopathy emerged as the strongest significant predictor of scholastic cheating. These results supported the view that dark personality is relevant for understanding scholastic cheating.

The current study examines the relationship between parental and intimate adult (best friend and partner) attachments with dark personality traits and empathy deficits in women. Participants (N = 262 females, M age = 26.65) completed self-report measures of the Dark Triad (DT) traits, cognitive and affective empathy, and attachment experiences in close relationships. Path model analysis showed that parental avoidant attachment predicted the dark dyad traits (Machiavellianism, psychopathy) while only parental anxious attachment predicted psychopathy. Psychopathy was the only dark trait directly and indirectly (via affective empathy) associated with intimate adult life attachment insecurity, whereas narcissism was associated with secure attachment through reduced anxious attachment towards best friends. Reduced affective empathy mediated the relationship between psychopathy and increased avoidant attachment, and also directly predicted lower anxious (best friend and partner) attachment. These findings are considered in the context of a possible route from parental to intimate adult life attachment difficulties in women with dark – in particular, psychopathic traits.

BACKGROUND:Pathological Demand Avoidance (PDA) is a developmental disorder involving challenging behaviour clinically linked to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Many of the problematic features of PDA are often seen in persons with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and impulsivity. ADHD and impulsivity are also common in the backgrounds of offenders.AIMS:Method and procedure: We examined if self-reported ASD, ADHD, impulsivity, and general personality traits such as low conscientiousness and low emotional stability predicted self-reported PDA scores, and which constructs contributed to the prediction of delinquency, recruiting 132 participants (mean age 34.6 years, SD = 10.9, range 18-68), of whom 126 cases had complete data.OUTCOMES AND RESULTS:Many of these constructs, but particularly ADHD (r = 0.71, p < 0.001) were significant correlates of PDA, the correlation between ASD and PDA was small, and did not predict PDA. Multiple regression indicated that a combination of higher attention deficit, antagonism, and lower emotional stability predicted 65 % of an individual's PDA score, but that their PDA score did not contribute to the prediction of delinquency.CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS:This research indicates that, for community adult populations, self-reported individual differences in ADHD, emotional instability, and antagonism appear to better predict PDA than ASD. The association PDA has with delinquency may reflect these constructs, which are also correlates of offending.

Forensic care settings are often isolated spaces with high levels of security. Where these settings are overly restrictive, this can affect recovery, autonomy and the therapeutic milieu. It is not clear what phenomena patients themselves identify as restrictive and how, subjectively, they experience these. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 patients in secure hospitals in England. Respondents included male and female patients with mental illness or personality disorders on both civil and criminal detentions. The results suggest a model of restrictiveness consisting of five themes: (1) the antecedent conditions to restrictive phenomena; (2) restrictive phenomena themselves; (3) how these are enacted, (4) how these phenomena were subjectively experienced by patients; and (5) the consequences of these phenomena as expressed by patients. Restrictiveness understood in this way is broader than "least restrictive practices" typically understood as restraint, seclusion and forced medication. Respondents' comments encourage us to rethink the unintended effects of placing individuals within secure hospitals.

The term "apostate" describes the term used by the religious to describe individuals raised within religious families who once identified as religious, but who have ceased to believe in the existence of God, gods or follow their religious belief, and now identify as non-religious. Given the strong feelings families can have about the rejection of their shared faith, and the difficulty that police forces may have in identifying and understanding the complexities of violence toward the apostate, this study sought to examine the possibility that apostates represent a hidden population of abuse victims within religious households. We recruited 228 persons (102 males, 119 females) from an online survey with the support of "Faith to Faithless"-a service within Humanists UK, which supports people that leave their religious faith. Individuals were screened using a modified version of the Conflict Tactics Scale to quantify their experience of assault and negotiation. It was found that persons who identified as apostates experienced more assault (i.e., harmful violence) than non-religious persons. Within this sample, Muslim apostates were significantly more likely to be victimized than Christian apostates. Disclosure of being abused for identifying as an apostate within a religious household to law enforcement was extremely uncommon, thereby preventing detection or prosecution of abusive acts committed by family members and limiting public awareness of this issue. These results are discussed in the context of the broader culture of honor-based (izzat) violence, which occurs across the Eastern Mediterranean, Middle East, and North Africa, and is also seen in some Protestant Christian subcultures, and common to all Abrahamic religions, rather than Islam alone. This study highlights that within a multicultural society, there remain hidden populations of abuse victims who are vulnerable due to religious, cultural, and traditional constraints made by abusive family members.

As bonding primates, human sexuality is fundamental to existence and well-being as a species and for most individuals. Sexual behaviour can be diverse or prosaic, as are the antecedent and consequent pathways, indicating individual differences are an influence. Biological dynamics such as puberty, independence, sexual preference, and the move from mating to parenting effort also influence these processes. Key findings observed by Eysenck and Wilson – extroverts are sociosexual, those high in neuroticism have more sexual problems, persons high in psychoticism (i.e., low Agreeableness and Conscientiousness, or high psychopathy/Machiavellianism) have impersonal, loveless, or deviant sexual expression – remain axiomatic. Sexual offenders and risk takers have this dispositional foundation, but are also troubled by sexual preoccupation, use sex for mood management, and have disturbed attachments, all of which are reconviction and relapse risk indicators. Intelligence is also relevant to human sexuality. Arousal and desire can overwhelm even the highly intelligent, as indicated by the risks and bad choices made by mostly rational and prudent individuals. Research into sexual behaviour (however operationalised), personality, and intelligence (and the multiple theories, models, methods, and forms of analysis it requires) helps inculcate an interest in differential psychology and its many applications.

Where safe, forensic mental health systems should provide care in the least restrictive environment possible. Doing so can maximize patient autonomy and empowerment while minimizing unnecessary social disconnection and stigmatization. This study investigated whether patients’ perceptions of restrictiveness were associated with demographic, clinical, and legal characteristics. The Forensic Restrictiveness Questionnaire (FRQ) was used to measure perceptions of restrictiveness in 235 patients in low-, medium-, and high-secure settings in England. The results showed that restrictiveness scores were significantly higher for patients who experienced an adverse event in the past week or were diagnosed with a personality disorder compared to those with a mental illness. A regression analysis suggested that only diagnosis was predictive of FRQ scores when controlling for perceptions of ward atmosphere and quality of life. Age, length of stay, ethnicity, level of security, legal section, and offence type were not associated with FRQ scores. Future research should investigate the roles that individual symptoms, insight into illness, mood, personality, and expectations of care have in influencing perceptions of restrictiveness.

Perceived social support from family, friends, and significant others is as a key influence on positive behaviour, so potentially reduces risk-taking and offending. Research on these constructs was examined in relation to the influence of personality. We recruited 429 general population participants who completed self-reports of personality, the Dark Triad (DT), risk-taking, offence history, and social support, testing whether social support moderated the expected associations between personality, risk, and offending. As expected, risk-taking and offence history were correlated with, and predicted by, personality, namely, higher psychopathy and Machiavellianism, and lower emotionality and Honesty-Humility. Of the three social support constructs – friends, significant others, and family, only family had any significant association with offending. While perceived level of social support from family was weakly associated with lower offence history, this effect fell out when personality was entered into the model, and overall social support did not moderate offence history or risk-taking. Social support (SS) may idiosyncratically influence lives via stress buffering or relational regulation, but these data suggest SS does not have a priori systematic effects on troublesome outcomes like risk-taking and offending.

Objectives: This study draws on advances in Doppler ultrasound bubble sizing to investigate whether high volumes of macro-bubbles entering the brain during cardiac surgery increase the risk of new cerebral microbleeds (CMBs), ischemic MR lesions, or post-operative cognitive decline (POCD). Methods: Transcranial Doppler (TCD) ultrasound recordings were analysed to estimate numbers of emboli and macrobubbles (>100 mu m) entering the brain during cardiac surgery. Logistic regression was used to explore the hypothesis that emboli characteristics affect the incidence of new brain injuries identified through preand postoperative MRI and neuropsychological testing. Results: TCD, MRI, and neuropsychological test data were compared between 28 valve and 18 CABG patients. Although valve patients received over twice as many emboli per procedure [median: 1995 vs. 859, p = .004], and seven times as many macro-bubbles [median: 218 vs. 28, p = .001], high volumes of macrobubbles were not found to be significantly associated with new CMBs, new ischaemic lesions, or POCD. The odds of acquiring new CMBs increased by approximately 5% [95% CI: 1 to 10%] for every embolus detected in the first minute after the release of the aortic cross-clamp (AxC). Logistic regression models also confirmed previous findings that cardiopulmonary bypass time and valve surgery were significant predictors for new CMBs (both p = .03). Logistic regression analysis estimated an increase in the odds of acquiring new CMBs of 6% [95% CI: 1 to 12%] for every minute of bypass time over 91 mins. Conclusions: This small study provides new information about the properties and numbers of bubbles entering the brain during surgery, but found no evidence to substantiate a direct link between large numbers of macrobubbles and adverse cognitive or MR outcome.

Implied precedence (i.e., the persons involved having had a prior sexual relationship) increases sexual coaxing and coercion (SCC). We examined whether General personality, the Dark Tetrad (Psychopathy, Narcissism, Machiavellianism, Sadism) and mating effort, influenced this association. HEXACO personality, Mating Effort (ME), Short Dark Triad (SD3), Sadism, and Tactics to Obtain Sex Scale (TOSS) measures were completed by 151 participants (M:F:Other = 45:103:3; mean age = 31.97, SD = 11.6). Coaxing varied more than coercion, but wasn't affected by gender or gender-intimacy interaction. Propensity for SCC with a current partner was higher than for an ex-partner or a neighbour, and for an ex-partner compared to a neighbour. SD3, sadism, and ME scores correlated with TOSS scores. Emotionality, Machiavellianism, and ME constructs significantly predicted coaxing, but only ME uniquely predicted coercion. These results suggest individual factors to consider in relationship advisory services and campaigns.

Forensic psychiatric care settings are intended to be more therapeutic than penal settings. More homely, recovery-oriented, person-centered, and less overtly punitive. However, forensic inpatient hospitals are highly secure, risk averse, and can diminish patient autonomy. A body of research is investigating how patients experience care and how these experiences are associated with treatment outcomes. The self-report FORENSIC RESTRICTIVENESS QUESTIONNAIRE (FRQ) is a 15-item measure of patients' perceptions of the restrictions upon their autonomy. There has been interest in validating the FRQ in several countries. Despite preliminary empirical support for the FRQ, its psychometric properties are not well understood. In this paper we draw on Item-Response Theory (IRT) to investigate the properties of individual FRQ items to identify candidate items for alteration, removal or retention to assist researchers validating the FRQ in new contexts. Results suggest the FRQ is more sensitive to measuring the perceptions of patients that have above average amounts of perceived restrictiveness. Measurement error rises sharply for the approximately 5% highest scoring respondents but is low for the majority of individuals. Users are likely to respond in a dichotomised manner and not use the 'Not Sure' option. The response category 'Not Applicable' should be removed from a revised FRQ.

This meta-analysis aimed to examine the effectiveness of the Historical Clinical Risk-20 violence management tool for predicting violence in adult female populations. The HCR-20 is a well-known tool which has been predominantly developed and validated on males. To date, there have been no published systematic reviews explicitly explore all generations of the HCR-20 and the predictive validity of the tool for females which encompasses measures of violence, recidivism and settings. Nine electronic databases and reference lists of relevant analyzes were searched. All papers were reviewed with pre-defined inclusion criteria, and quality assessment. Relevant papers were then subject to data extraction and synthesis. The electronic search revealed 1405 papers. After the exclusion process and quality assessment, 12 studies were included in the review. A meta-analysis was conducted using a total of 45 effect sizes assessing the predictive validity of the H, C, R, and Total items for violence and recidivism, followed by a sensitivity analysis. Results suggested a small effect size for H, C, and R items when assessing violence and for C, R, and total items for predicating recidivism in females. However, moderate effect sizes were found for total items when predicting violence and for H items for predicting recidivism. This review concludes that the HCR-20 assessment can be considered as a useful tool for understanding and assessing violence risk with females; however, further research is required to develop a more informed view of the HCR-20 assessment with females and should focus on the HCR-20 version three as the updated tool.

The study aim was to investigate the associations between personality factors, attitudes to animals, moral values, and delinquent behaviors, and to examine the moderating effects of gender, age, and country of origin on these associations. This was a cross-cultural comparison of residents of Cyprus and the UK. A total of 526 people completed an online questionnaire and a path analysis was carried out. Persons who reported more positive attitudes to animals reported higher agreeableness and conscientiousness, lower delinquency, and were more likely to be Cypriot. Those reporting more delinquent behaviors expressed lower agreeableness and low conscientiousness and were residents of the UK. Persons with higher scores for self-reported morality also reported higher agreeableness and conscientiousness and were more likely to be Cypriot residents. The findings support previous studies on personality and attitudes toward animal welfare and suggest that positive attitudes to animal welfare may be linked to more rural lifestyles.