Disrespect Sensitivity in the Context of Right-Wing Authoritarianism, Maladaptive Personality, and Violence

This study examines the level to which Disrespect Sensitivity mediates the relationships between maladaptive personality traits, Right-Wing Authoritarianism (RWA), and lifetime history of violence. Data was collected via Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk). The final sample utilized during analysis included 714 adult men from the United States (Mage = 33.39, SD = 13.74, range = 18–77). Each participant was administered a demographic questionnaire, the Authoritarianism-Conservatism-Traditionalism Scale (ACT Scale; Duckitt et al., 2010), the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5; Krueger et al., 2012), the Lifetime Aggressive Acts Index from the LAVA (King et al., 2017), and the Disrespect Sensitivity Scale (McDonald, 2008). Correlational analyses revealed moderate relationships between Negative Treatment Vigilance of the Disrespect Sensitivity Scale and each of the PID domains. In contrast to previous research, several of the PID-5 domains or facets did not have meaningful relationships with violence. A Structural Equation Model (SEM) was created to test Disrespect Sensitivity as a potential mediator between Maladaptive Personality and RWA as distal latent variables with the LAGG as the outcome variable. Direct paths were also drawn from Maladaptive Personality and RWA to the LAGG. The final SEM consisted of the observed variable Negative Treatment Vigilance acting as a direct predictor of the LAGG. Although both Maladaptive Personality and RWA somewhat predicted Negative Treatment Vigilance, Negative Treatment Vigilance did not predict the LAGG.