New research provides evidence that people with psychopathic tendencies become more manipulative and abusive after age 50, causing those around them to suffer. The study, published in International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology, casts doubt on claims that antisocial behavior among psychopathic individuals decreases after middle adulthood.
“I married a man who turned out to be a conman and was later diagnosed as a psychopath. Because of my experience, I founded Lovefraud.com to warn others about the disordered individuals living among us,” explained study author Donna Andersen, the author of “Senior Sociopaths: How to Recognize and Escape Lifelong Abusers.”
“In my research, I frequently read that sociopaths ‘burned out’ in their 40s and engaged in less antisocial behavior. This made no sense to me, because my ex-husband was 55 when I met him. He exploited me, women before me and women after me. I heard similar stories from hundreds of readers — they tangled with sociopaths who were 50, 60, 70 years old and still making their lives miserable. It seemed that the burnout idea was mistaken, so I wanted to gather data on people’s lived experiences.”
In the new study, 1,215 participants completed a 90-item online survey regarding an antisocial individual they knew who was age 50 or older. Most of the participants indicated that the antisocial individual in question was a current or former romantic partner. Participants also indicated that the individual was a parent or stepparent, other family member, work associate, or friend.
According to those surveyed, 935 individuals showed levels of disordered traits considered indicative of psychopathy. The 99% of the antisocial individuals were described as manipulative, 94% engaged in antisocial behavior, 93% were emotionally abusive, 89% were psychologically abusive, 58% were financially abusive, and 47% were violent.
The participants were questioned about the harm that the individual had inflicted while over the age of 50: 88% of participants reported they became anxious or depressed, 76% said the stress of the involvement made them ill, 70% reported they suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and 31% considered or attempted suicide. Most of the participants (68%) also reported that they or others had lost money as a result of their involvement with the individual.
“He was the ringleader of a significant and complex business fraud, also convicted of racketeering,” explained one participant, describing a business associate. “He sold people with very slick promises, presented with expensive, high status props, implying he was successful, living the high life, and very established. All lies and deceptive. It took two trials to convict him. He was that good at deception, obfuscation, and confusion.”
The researchers also asked the participants who knew the individual both before and after age 50: “Did the individual ‘mellow out’ or ‘burn out’ after age 50? Did the individual engage in less manipulation, deceit, or antisocial behavior?” But less than 1% reported that the individuals engaged in much less psychopathic behavior and 5% reported the individual engaged in somewhat less of this behavior after 50. In contrast, 36% reported that the individual engaged in these behaviors to the same extent and 57% of respondents reported that the individual became worse after age 50.
“The older he got, the more abusive he became, one participant told the researchers. “He lied, cheated, used, and stole. “As he aged, he seemed to care less about hiding his behavior, and he seemed to openly enjoy being cruel. The ‘fix’ he got from being abusive became more important to him than the ‘cover-up.'”
The findings provide evidence that most psychopathic individuals became worse after age 50, not better.
“If someone who you believe has a personality disorder is over age 50 still making your life miserable, there is no point waiting for them to change,” Andersen told PsyPost. Senior sociopaths never calm down and never grow up. Therapy does not work. The best thing you can do is disconnect from the person. If you can get them out of your life, great. If that’s not possible, keep contact to a minimum and disconnect emotionally.”
The new findings include some caveats. The participants were largely heterosexual women in middle adulthood and were recruited through articles and advertisements on the Lovefraud website, meaning that the participants had “specifically sought information about sociopaths from the internet,” Andersen noted.
“The survey used mono-methodology, in which the respondents both described their experiences and rated the level of antisocial traits in the index individuals, so there may be a negative halo effect,” she explained. “However, the larger number of participants from the community and the large amount of data collected are strengths of the study. Further research into how antisocial personality disorder/psychopathy manifests in older adults would be helpful.”
The study, “Surviving Senior Psychopathy: Informant Reports of Deceit and Antisocial Behavior in Multiple Types of Relationships“, was authored by Donna M. Andersen, Emma Veltman, and Martin Sellbom.