Detached and Antagonistic Pathological Personality Features and Mate

Detached and Antagonistic: Pathological Personality Features and Mate Retention Christopher J. Holden 1, Courtney H. Roof 2, & Virgil Zeigler-Hill 1 1 Oakland University, 2 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Introduction Romantic relationships can be a source of pride, closeness, and comfort for many. Thus, it is easy to see why individuals would be motivated to invest time and resources in the maintenance of their close relationships. There a number of strategies than can be employed in this endeavor. However, previous research has categorized these various efforts into what are considered to be mate retention behaviors (e. g. , Buss, 1988, Buss & Shackelford, 1997). These mate retention tactics range from “vigilance to violence” (Buss, 1988), and may include behaviors such as calling the partner to verify their reported location, lying about and derogating potential rivals, and at extremes, acting violently toward the partner or rivals. Considering that there a number of acts associated with mate retention, it is likely that there may be individual differences in the use of mate retention behaviors. Previous work has established connections with basic personality features. For example, de Miguel & Buss (2011) found that individuals with higher levels of neuroticism reported increased use of mate retention behaviors, whereas individuals scoring high on agreeableness report the use of fewer mate retention behaviors. Furthermore, the personality trait of honesty-humility has been found to be associated with mate retention behavior (Holden, Zeigler-Hill, Pham, & Shackelford, 2014). However, research has yet to explore the connections between pathological personality traits and mate retention behaviors. Results Two multiple regression analyses were conducted to determine the unique association that each of the five domains from the PID-5 had with the mate retention behaviors. Each pathological personality feature was regressed onto benefit-provisioning behaviors and cost inflicting behaviors separately. Benefit provisioning behaviors: It was found that detachment was negatively associated with benefitprovisioning behaviors. No other significant associations emerged. This finding suggests that individuals with high levels of detachment are less likely to invest in their partners. Cost-inflicting behaviors: Antagonism was found to be positively associated with cost-inflicting behaviors. No other significant associations emerged. This finding suggests that individuals with levels of antagonism are more likely to inflict costs on their partner. Therefore, we sought to examine the role of pathological personality traits in the use of mate retention behaviors using the PID-5 measure of personality (Krueger et al. , 2012). The PID-5 is designed to assess pathological personality features according to the proposed changes to personality disorders in the DSM 5. Method Participants and Procedure: Participants were 82 online community members (42 female, 40 male) recruited via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). To be eligible, participants must have been in a committed heterosexual relationship. The mean age was 36. 57 years (SD = 11. 54) and the racial/ethnic composition was 76% white, 4% Black, 4% Hispanic, 10% Asian, and 6% other. The relationship status of our participants was 62% married, 4% engaged, 18% seriously dating, and 16% cohabitating. The average length of the relationships was approximately 9 years. Mate Retention Behaviors: Mate retention was assessed using the Mate Retention Inventory – Short Form (MRI-SF; Buss, Shackelford, & Mc. Kibbin, 2008). The MRI-SF consists of 38 items that asses the two domains of mate retention behaviors, which are benefit-provisioning and cost-inflicting behaviors. Benefit-provisioning behaviors consist of doing things such as buying a gift for the partner, whereas costinflicting behaviors consist of doing things such as an individual demanding that their partner spend all of their free time with them. Participants are asked to report how frequently they employed these behaviors within the past year, with responses ranging from 0 (never performed this act) to 3 (often performed this act). The MRI-SF has been shown to be a valid measure of mate retention behaviors (Buss et al. , 2008; Shackelford, Goetz, & Buss, 2005). Pathological Personality Features: Pathological personality features were assessed using the PID-5 (Krueger et al. , 2012). This is a 220 -item instrument that captures 25 pathological personality facets, which in turn load onto five higher-order dimensions: negative affect, detachment, antagonism, disinhibition, and psychoticism. Previous research has demonstrated that the PID-5 has adequate psychometric properties (Krueger et al. , 2012; Thomas et al. , 2012). Discussion Taken together, our results suggest that pathological personality traits play a role in the use of mate retention strategies. Most notably, it was found that detachment was negatively associated with benefitprovisioning behaviors, whereas antagonism was positively associated with cost-inflicting behaviors. These findings extend previous work suggesting that basic personality traits are associated with mate retention behavior. Furthermore, this paints a somewhat bleak picture for those who are paired with partners scoring high in pathological personality traits.