Psychopathic Traits and Number of Children in Community Men and Women

Evolutionary theories of psychopathy suggest that it may be, in part, an adaptive mating strategy that favors offspring quantity over quality (i.e., investment). This strategy, however, may be more effective for men than women as women frequently bear most of the costs of having and raising children. Although studies using criminal justice-involved and high-risk samples have shown positive associations between number of children and psychopathic traits in men, this has not been replicated in community samples nor in women. Using a comprehensive measure of psychopathic traits in a community sample of men (N = 253) and women (N = 243), we found that prototypical (overall) psychopathy was associated with number of children in men but not women. When examining the facets of psychopathy, men's interpersonal, affective, and antisocial traits correlated positively with number of children, whereas only women's antisocial traits correlated positively with number of children. Our findings add to past research that used justice-involved and high-risk samples by extending the relation between psychopathic traits and number of children to community men.