Exposure to violence strongly predicts violent behavior. However, not all individuals who are exposed to violence engage in violent behavior. Personality is one factor that influences the translation from exposure to violence to engagement in violent behavior. Previous research in adolescents showed that psychopathy (a personality disorder) mediated the relationship between exposure to violence and violent behavior. However, this research has not: been conducted in adults, despite evidence of instability in exposure to violence and psychopathy across the lifespan; examined the specificity of this relationship to different expressions of psychopathy, such as subcomponent Factors and primary/secondary subtypes; and, considered other environmental experiences that may impact this relationship. In two samples of adults (community [N = 232] and prison [N = 313]), psychopathy affected the relationship between exposure to violence and violence (community indirect effect = 0.03, SE = 0.02, 95% CI = 0.004, 0.07; prison indirect effect = 0.14, SE = 0.05, 95% CI = 0.05, 0.25). These effects appeared to be related more strongly to the impulsive-antisocial traits of psychopathy and the secondary (high-anxious) subtype of psychopathy. Results were robust against demographic and other environmental experiences. Ultimately, our findings indicate that psychopathy is an important factor affecting the link between exposure to violence and violent behavior.

暴露于暴力行为会强烈预测暴力行为。但是，并非所有遭受暴力侵害的人都从事暴力行为。人格是影响从暴露于暴力到参与暴力行为的转化的一个因素。先前对青少年的研究表明，心理疾病（一种人格障碍）介导了暴力暴露与暴力行为之间的关系。但是，这项研究还没有：尽管有证据表明在整个生命周期中暴露于暴力和精神病的不稳定因素，但仍在成年人中进行；检查了这种关系对精神疾病的不同表达的特异性，例如亚成分因素和主要/次要亚型；并且考虑了可能影响这种关系的其他环境经验。在两个成年人样本中（社区[N  = 232]和监狱[ N  = 313]），精神病影响了暴力暴露与暴力之间的关系（社区间接影响= 0.03，SE = 0.02，95％CI = 0.004，0.07；监狱间接影响= 0.14，SE = 0.05、95％CI = 0.05、0.25）。这些影响似乎与精神病的冲动-反社会特征和精神病的继发性（高焦虑）亚型更密切相关。与人口统计和其他环境经验相比，结果是可靠的。最终，我们的发现表明，精神病是影响暴露于暴力与暴力行为之间联系的重要因素。