Psychopathy and Violence Between Intimate Partners: Systematic Review with Meta-Analytic Procedure

Psychopathy is a personality structure composed of interpersonal, affective, and behavioral characteristics often associated with antisocial, impulsive, and violent behaviors. This article aims to present a systematic review, with a metaanalytical procedure, to understand the relation between psychopathy and IPV, considering the different domains of psychopathy and violence perpetrated in intimate relations. A total of 295 studies published between 1983 and 2024 were identified through database searches (ESBCO, PubMed, and Web of Science). This review included 35 articles, of which 30 were metaanalyzed. Overall, the results suggest that psychopathy has a significant association with IPV, with individuals scoring high on measures of psychopathic traits being more likely to be involved in episodes of IPV. Thus, psychopathy is a variable of interest in the IPV phenomenon and may be relevant to predict its occurrence.