Correlates of psychopathic personality traits in a sample of college students in Tunisia

Background. - Although psychopathy and its predictive factors are well documented in clinical samples, studies in non-clinical populations are relatively rare. We proposed to assess psychopathy traits in a population of Tunisian university students and to analyze their predictive factors. Method. - This was a cross-sectional study of 516 university students enrolled at three major Tunisian universities (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences of Tunis, National Engineering School of Tunis, Faculty of Medicine of Tunis). Participants responded to a survey sheet containing sociodemographic data and the Levenson Self-Report Psychopathy Scale. Results. - The students were female in 63.2 % of the cases, with a mean age of 22.7 years. The socioeconomic level was middle class in 62.4% of the cases. More than one-quarter of students ( 26.7%) consumed tobacco. The majority of students (81.4%) spent their free time on the Internet, while 11.8% participated in associative work. Psychopathy scores were relatively high (mean LSRPS scores = 64.8) with no noticeable gender differences. Psychopathic traits were significantly associated with university (P = 0.017), maternal occupational status (P = 0.038), and tobacco use (P = 0.029). In addition, the total psychopathy score was significantly lower among students sharing activities with their families (P = 0.044) and among students participating in associational work (P = 0.025). The multivariate multiple regression has retained as predictive factors of psychopathic traits the fact of being the eldest of his siblings and the associative work. Conclusion. - Prevention strategies should be put in place to prevent psychopathy and its individual and social impacts in young adults in general, and in university students in particular, especially promoting associative activity in the university environment which is currently lacking in our context. (C) 2020 L'Encephale, Paris.