<p>Men with characteristics of pathological narcissism are more likely to commit sexual crimes such as assault and rape, a new US study has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Almost 20 per cent of college men have committed some kind of sexual assault, and 4 per cent have committed rape, researchers from University of Georgia said.<br /><br />The study found a strong connection between pathological narcissism and sexual assault perpetration through a survey of 234 male university students, mostly in their first and second years of college.<br /><br />"People who demonstrate characteristics of pathological narcissism have difficulties when it comes to relating to others," said Emily Mouilso from the University of Georgia.<br /><br />Non-pathological narcissism, on the other hand, can be somewhat beneficial because it manifests in high self-esteem and makes it easier for people to shake off failures, which researchers sometime call the "healthy" form of narcissism.<br /><br />"As we predicted, the aspects of narcissism that we thought would be related were (related) - the lack of empathy, the entitlement aspects of narcissism. Vulnerable narcissists express high levels of self-esteem but are actually very insecure," said Mouilso.<br /><br />The study found that men with vulnerable narcissistic traits were more likely to use alcohol or other date-rape drugs to incapacitate their victims, a finding that is especially concerning on a college campus.<br /><br />"I think people do not realise how prevalent drinking is in colleges," said Karen Calhoun from University of Georgia.<br /><br />"It is not so much how much they drink total for women that makes them vulnerable; it is how much they drink at a time, the binge drinking, the getting drunk and just not being alert and aware of their surroundings or the risks involved. That really puts women at risk," said Calhoun.<br /><br />"If the end product is perpetration, there is more than one kind of profile that would make you more likely to perpetrate a sexual assault," said Mouilso.<br /><br />"One of those streams is promiscuity - so people who have higher levels of sexual interest and more frequent sexual partners, they are more OK with impersonal sex. That is one stream of risk factors," she said.<br /><br />"The second path is the hostile masculinity path. That has more to do with how you look at women, so having a hostile and angry orientation towards women in general and thinking that relationships are adversarial ... it is more about, what can I get out of this person that I want? I do not really care all that much about what they want," Mouilso said.<br /><br />She said that people can be high or low on factors in both of those tracks, but if a person has both of them together, it makes that person much more likely to perpetrate a sexual assault, according to current theory.<br /><br />Narcissists feel a sense of entitlement to anything they want, something that makes it easier for them to rationalise their aggressive and sometimes illegal behaviours, researchers said.<br /><br />The findings were published in the journal Violence Against Women.</p>
<p>Men with characteristics of pathological narcissism are more likely to commit sexual crimes such as assault and rape, a new US study has found.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Almost 20 per cent of college men have committed some kind of sexual assault, and 4 per cent have committed rape, researchers from University of Georgia said.<br /><br />The study found a strong connection between pathological narcissism and sexual assault perpetration through a survey of 234 male university students, mostly in their first and second years of college.<br /><br />"People who demonstrate characteristics of pathological narcissism have difficulties when it comes to relating to others," said Emily Mouilso from the University of Georgia.<br /><br />Non-pathological narcissism, on the other hand, can be somewhat beneficial because it manifests in high self-esteem and makes it easier for people to shake off failures, which researchers sometime call the "healthy" form of narcissism.<br /><br />"As we predicted, the aspects of narcissism that we thought would be related were (related) - the lack of empathy, the entitlement aspects of narcissism. Vulnerable narcissists express high levels of self-esteem but are actually very insecure," said Mouilso.<br /><br />The study found that men with vulnerable narcissistic traits were more likely to use alcohol or other date-rape drugs to incapacitate their victims, a finding that is especially concerning on a college campus.<br /><br />"I think people do not realise how prevalent drinking is in colleges," said Karen Calhoun from University of Georgia.<br /><br />"It is not so much how much they drink total for women that makes them vulnerable; it is how much they drink at a time, the binge drinking, the getting drunk and just not being alert and aware of their surroundings or the risks involved. That really puts women at risk," said Calhoun.<br /><br />"If the end product is perpetration, there is more than one kind of profile that would make you more likely to perpetrate a sexual assault," said Mouilso.<br /><br />"One of those streams is promiscuity - so people who have higher levels of sexual interest and more frequent sexual partners, they are more OK with impersonal sex. That is one stream of risk factors," she said.<br /><br />"The second path is the hostile masculinity path. That has more to do with how you look at women, so having a hostile and angry orientation towards women in general and thinking that relationships are adversarial ... it is more about, what can I get out of this person that I want? I do not really care all that much about what they want," Mouilso said.<br /><br />She said that people can be high or low on factors in both of those tracks, but if a person has both of them together, it makes that person much more likely to perpetrate a sexual assault, according to current theory.<br /><br />Narcissists feel a sense of entitlement to anything they want, something that makes it easier for them to rationalise their aggressive and sometimes illegal behaviours, researchers said.<br /><br />The findings were published in the journal Violence Against Women.</p>