When Good Experiences Matter: Positive Childhood Experiences as a Moderator Between Adverse Childhood Experiences and Psychopathic Traits in Community and justice-Involved Samples

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) are linked to negative outcomes in behavior, mental health, and personality, including psychopathic traits. Positive childhood experiences (PCEs) may buffer these effects, but their role in this context remains underexplored. This study examined the association between ACEs, PCEs, and psychopathic traits, and explored whether PCEs moderate the ACEs-psychopathic traits relationship. The study included 1138 adults residing in Portugal, comprising 710 community participants recruited online (M age = 25.36), and 428 justice-involved individuals (M age = 41.03) recruited from 10 national prisons. Participants completed a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Adverse Childhood Experiences Scale, the Benevolent Childhood Experiences Scale, and the Self-Report Psychopathy Scale–Short Form. Results revealed a high prevalence of both ACEs and PCEs in both samples, with justice-involved individuals reporting a higher frequency of ACEs. The justice-involved sample also exhibited the highest scores on total psychopathy and across all psychopathy facets. No moderating effect of PCEs was found in the justice-involved sample; however, significant effects emerged in the community sample for total psychopathy and the interpersonal, affective, and lifestyle facets. These findings highlight the differential impact of PCEs across populations and suggest that their protective role may be diminished in contexts of more severe and persistent adversity.