A study of incarcerated women in Portugal found that having a criminal lifestyle was associated with psychopathy. Incarcerated women who reported living a criminal lifestyle tended to have higher psychopathy scores. The study was published in Deviant Behavior.
Historically, women have comprised only a small fraction of the total prison population. Over the past decades, the male prison population has outnumbered the female population by more than tenfold. Consequently, research on criminal behavior has predominantly focused on men. Nevertheless, recent data indicates a rising number of incarcerated women.
Early research on women who committed crimes depicted them as primitive and pathological, lacking moral development. Contemporary perspectives, however, emphasize the need for a deeper understanding of their life experiences, the routes leading to criminal behavior, and the nature of the crimes they commit. This shift has brought the lifestyle and psychological traits of these women into the spotlight of research.
Study author Marina Pinheiro and her colleagues wanted to examine the links between psychopathy and the criminal lifestyle of women who committed crimes. A criminal lifestyle is characterized by irresponsibility, self-indulgence, and disregard for social norms. Psychopathy, in contrast, involves psychological traits such as a lack of empathy and remorse, coupled with manipulative and deceitful behaviors. Individuals with psychopathy may exhibit superficial charm and charisma, yet they often engage in impulsive and irresponsible actions.
Unlike in men, psychopathic traits in women are often subtle and concealed, yet equally harmful to others. Women with psychopathy are generally more manipulative than their non-psychopathic counterparts. Whereas psychopathic men typically commit violent crimes against strangers, psychopathic women are more likely to target acquaintances, employing indirect forms of aggression like insults and verbal abuse. Additionally, they report higher levels of violence in prison than men. The authors hypothesized that women exhibiting more pronounced psychopathic traits are likely to lead criminal lifestyles.
The study involved 63 women incarcerated for various crimes. Their average age was 27, with the oldest being 66 years old. Among them, 89% were Portuguese and 51% were single. Their sentences ranged from 2 months to 25 years, with an average prison term of 6 to 7 years. Over half were repeat offenders, and 43% were incarcerated for drug dealing.
Participants completed a survey evaluating various aspects, including their legal situation (type of crime, sentence length, recidivism, criminal versatility), criminal lifestyle (using the Lifestyle Criminality Screening Form-Revised), and psychopathy (based on Hare’s Psychopathy Checklist – Revised).
Results indicated that different aspects of criminal lifestyle were strongly associated, confirming that criminal lifestyle can indeed be considered a unified behavioral pattern. This lifestyle pattern tended to be somewhat more pronounced in repeat offenders.
There was a significant correlation between criminal lifestyle and psychopathy. Individuals with more evident psychopathic traits frequently displayed a criminal lifestyle. When examining specific psychopathic behaviors, the strongest link to criminal lifestyle was observed in the ‘lifestyle’ facet of psychopathy, which entails an unstable, parasitic way of life marked by impulsivity, irresponsibility, and dependence on others for financial support or housing.
“Our study allows us to conclude the significant role of psychopathy and especially the lifestyle facet [in women’s criminal lifestyle], as other studies have also pointed. These results provide support for the inclusion of psychopathy in assessments of women who committed crimes, as well as for the consideration of psychopathy in incarcerated women’s treatment to prevent violence and other negative behaviors,” the study authors concluded.
The study sheds light on the links between psychopathy and lifestyle patterns in women who committed crimes. However, it also has limitations that need to be taken into account. Notably, the number of participants in this study was very small. Studies on larger samples might not yield equal results. Additionally, the researchers report that psychopathy levels of participants in their study were lower than those reported in other studies of incarcerated women.
The study, “Criminal Lifestyle Among Women Who Committed Crimes: The Role of Psychopathy”, was authored by Marina Pinheiro, Rui Abrunhosa Gonçalves, Sónia Caridade, and Olga Cunha.