If you do this vile act, you’re a psychopath

A study looking into personality traits and their link to a horrific act of sexual violence has revealed a concerning trend.

A study has linked the perpetrators of a form of sexual assault to certain personality traits.

Researchers at the University of Sunshine Coast sought to determine what factors may predict someone perpetrating stealthing. Stealthing is the act of removing a condom during intercourse without consent.

Many factors such as intoxication and high impulsivity had been linked. This prompted the study to look at the relationship between personality and stealthing. It had a particular focus on the Dark Triad of Personality.

The Dark Triad consists of psychopathy, narcissism and Machiavellianism.

Condom use resistance was “significantly higher” with Dark Triad personality traits. The first two traits were massive indicators of someone who may commit non-consensual condom removal.

A study has linked the perpetrators of a form of sexual assault to certain personality traits. Picture: iStock

“Of note, the largest effect size consistently across all three stealthing scenarios was for psychopathy, indicating that there roughly two standard deviations difference on mean measures of psychopathy between those who were aroused and those who were not aroused by each stealthing scenario and between those who reported a behavioural history and those with no reported behavioural history of each stealthing scenario,” the study read.

Psychopaths were 424 per cent more likely to be linked to the act. Meanwhile narcissists were 284 per cent and Machiavellianism by 192 per cent more likely.

Dr Andrew Allen, a senior lecturer in clinical psychology and a registered clinical psychologist, was involved in the study.

“Psychopathy was the strongest predictor. That’s a story as old as time when it comes to the perpetration of sexual violence,” Dr Allen told news.com.au.

“It’s a significant risk factor. It’s usually these people who are fairly impersonal about their interactions in terms of intimacy and sex. These are the people who can often be callous, disconnected and lack empathy.”

He said these people have a dangerous outlook on relationships and the world. He said they had a “hurt or punish others” before they are hurt. These indicators can play into the potential for those who were at risk of committing this act.

Dr Allen said the research wasn’t able to assess attitudes directly. He said negotiating condom use was a normal part of a sexual interaction. He said there was a certain level — saying they wanted a “better feeling” without a condom — of resistance that was “normal”.

There was a link between psychopaths and Picture: iStock

“But then it starts to escalate from there. You go from that normal level of negotiation and some level of resistance to then getting to a point where it becomes verbal defiance or seduction,” he said.

“When we get to the more extreme end — which is stealthing or breaking the condom without a person’s knowledge. We aimed to assess the continuum of condom resistance.”

It presented scenarios and asked how aroused a person was, had they done it before and would they commit the act again.

This is in comparison to those who had no history of the illegal act or were not aroused by it.

More than 400 people took part in the survey but only 221 responses were used in the end. Questions were asked about condom use resistance perpetration, if they were aroused by the act and stealthing scenarios.

Queensland made stealthing illegal in September. It joined places such as ACT, which made it a criminal offence in October 2021. New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania followed suit.

Western Australia’s Law Reform Commission recommended criminalising stealthing in 2023. However, politicians have not caught up yet. The Northern Territory defines consent as a “free and voluntary agreement”. This leaves stealthing in a legal grey area.

Monash University claimed in 2018 that 32 per cent of women and 19 per cent of men had been the victim of stealthing.

Dr Allen, who is a member of the sexual violence prevention unit at the University of Sunshine Coast, said more research is being conducted in this area. This includes understanding public awareness and attitudes into stealthing. He said the understanding of stealthing and condom use resistance is still very much in the early stages.

Originally published as If you do this vile act, you’re a psychopath