Antisocial Personality Problems in Emerging Adulthood: The Role of Family Functioning, Impulsivity, and Empathy

Abstract

International research has evidenced the key role played by adults’ and adolescents’ family functioning, impulsivity, and empathy in antisocial personality problems. To date, no study has assessed the complex interaction between these variables during emerging adulthood. This study aimed to explore the possible interplay between antisocial personality problems, the quality of family functioning, impulsivity, and empathetic problems in a community sample of 350 emerging adults. Descriptive, correlational, hierarchical regression, and mediation analyses were performed, controlling relevant socio-demographic variables. Results showed a predictive effect of parental behavioral control, motor impulsivity, and empathetic concern in antisocial personality problems. Moreover, motor impulsivity and empathetic concern partially mediated the relationship between parental behavioral control and emerging adults’ antisocial personality problems. This study supports the recent evidence on the complex relationship between individual and relational protective and risk factors involved in antisocial personality problems during emerging adulthood, with important implications for their intervention treatments.