. 2024 May 8;19(5):e0301085. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0301085

Table 6. Results of mediation analyses for psychopathy factors, alexithymia, empathy, and suppression in the community sample.

Independent Variable (IV)	Mediating Variable (M)	Dependent Variables (DV)	Effect of IV on M (a)	Effect of M on DV (b)	Direct Effect (c‘)	Total Effect (c)	Indirect effect (a)(b) [95% CI]	Effect size ab_cs
Meanness	Alexithymia	Empathy	.435^***	–.088^**	–.515^***	–.553^***	–.038 [–.089;–.009]^*	–.041^*
Meanness	Alexithymia	Suppression	.435^***	.054^***	.027^**	.051^***	.023 [.010; .041]^***	.131^***
Boldness	Alexithymia	Empathy	–.287^***	–.088^**	.101^*	.126^**	.025 [.005; .061]^*	.030^*
Boldness	Alexithymia	Suppression	–.287^***	.054^***	–.009	–.025^**	–.015 [–.029;–.005]^***	–.098^***
Disinhibition	Alexithymia	Empathy	.563^***	–.088^**	.186^***	.137^*	–.050 [–.104;–.014]^*	–.052^*
Disinhibition	Alexithymia	Suppression	.563^***	.054^***	–.032^**	–.002	.030 [.016; .048]^***	.167^***

Results are presented for the community sample (N = 315). Bias-corrected percentile bootstrap confidence intervals (N = 5000). Maximum likelihood estimator. For results on forensic sample, see S1 Table.

*p < .05

**p < .01

***p < .001.