Antisocial Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationship Functioning in an Epidemiologically-Based Sample

dc.contributor.advisorMurphy, Christopher M
dc.contributor.authorBell, Marie
dc.contributor.departmentPsychology
dc.contributor.programPsychology
dc.date.accessioned2015-10-14T03:14:08Z
dc.date.available2015-10-14T03:14:08Z
dc.date.issued2009-01-01
dc.description.abstractThe objective of this project was to characterize the romantic relationship functioning of those with Antisocial Personality Disorder (ASPD). There is a gap in the literature on this topic. An epidemiologically-based, longitudinal, community sample collected by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health (N = 1297) was used. It was hypothesized that the relationship functioning of participants with ASPD would be more maladaptive as compared to those without ASPD. This notion was generally supported. Relationships of those with ASPD were found to be more impaired regarding: general relationship quality, confiding with their partners, sharing activities with their partners, communication, number of partnerships (i.e., promiscuity), mutual emotional abuse, and mutual physical abuse. However, affection, commitment, and viewing their relationships as important were not found to differ between the ASPD and non-ASPD groups. Unexpectedly, relationships of those with ASPD were found to be longer than those without ASPD. A gender interaction was found for emotional and physical abuse, but not for relationship quality. There is some evidence, then, that the relationships of women are particularly impacted by ASPD. Counter to hypotheses, childhood disruptive experiences and maltreatment did not predict adult relationship quality for those with the disorder. However, childhood maltreatment did predict adult relationship quality for those without ASPD. The goal of establishing heterogeneity regarding romantic relationships within the disorder was thus not met. This study provides empirical evidence of the romantic relationship impairment of those with ASPD and has implications for understanding the relationship strategies these individuals may employ.
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dc.genredissertations
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2K39C
dc.identifier.other10181
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/1085
dc.languageen
dc.relation.isAvailableAtThe University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Theses and Dissertations Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Graduate School Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Student Collection
dc.relation.ispartofUMBC Psychology Department Collection
dc.rightsThis item may be protected under Title 17 of the U.S. Copyright Law. It is made available by UMBC for non-commercial research and education. For permission to publish or reproduce, please see http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/repro.php or contact Special Collections at speccoll(at)umbc.edu.
dc.sourceOriginal File Name: Bell_umbc_0434D_10181.pdf
dc.subjectAntisocial
dc.subjectAntisocial Personality Disorder
dc.subjectDevelopment
dc.subjectGender
dc.subjectMarital quality
dc.subjectRelationship quality
dc.titleAntisocial Personality Disorder and Romantic Relationship Functioning in an Epidemiologically-Based Sample
dc.typeText
dcterms.accessRightsAccess limited to the UMBC community. Item may possibly be obtained via Interlibrary Loan through a local library, pending author/copyright holder's permission.

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