Psychopathic personality traits among paramedicine and other undergraduate students

Psychopathy is a constellation of interpersonal, affective, and behavioural traits and is linked with reduced empathy. However, some psychopathic individuals have elevated traits resembling fearlessness, resilience, social efficacy, and 'heroic' behaviour. This thesis investigated whether paramedicine students score higher in psychopathic traits compared to other undergraduate students, whether there are different groups of those with higher and lower psychopathic traits, and if these traits benefit such individuals in prioritising tasks in psychologically demanding situations. Two hundred and twenty-three participants, comprising paramedicine students (n=79) and other undergraduate students (n=144) from two Australian universities completed an online survey in 2021 which included psychopathy, empathy, resilience, and subjective well-being measures and several vignettes which assessed task prioritisation and psychological distress. Paramedicine students had higher scores in the psychopathy trait domains of Boldness and Meanness and lower Disinhibition than other undergraduate students. Boldness was found to mediate Meanness to increase resilience and subjective wellbeing. A latent profile analysis yielded four distinct classes of participants; those classes with high and mild elevations in psychopathy displayed increased task prioritisation and reduced psychological distress to psychologically demanding vignettes. These results indicate that individuals with elevated psychopathy may indeed be attracted to vocations such as paramedicine, rather than the job making individuals more psychopathic. Additionally, although those with high elevations in psychopathy may deal with demanding situations better, but mild elevations also conferred an advantage while minimising Disinhibition. Theoretical and practical implications for psychology, psychopathy, and paramedicine are discussed, such as paramedic recruitment and issues relating to the notion of “successful” psychopathy.