The Links Between Dark Personality Traits, Aggression, Mating Behaviour, and Status-Seeking in Adolescence and Adulthood

Abstract

From an evolutionary perspective, “dark” personality traits are argued to comprise a coordinated system of co-adapted traits that facilitate exploitive, manipulative, and aggressive strategies to vie for valued social and reproductive resources. Three quantitative studies were conducted to examine the cross-sectional and longitudinal associations between dark personality characteristics with bullying (Study 1), delinquency and dating (Study 2), and status-striving (Study 3) in adolescents aged 15–18 (Studies 1–2) and adults aged 18–61 (Study 3). In Study 1, using random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling in a sample of N = 514 adolescents from ages 15–18 (Grades 10–12), Machiavellianism and psychopathy (but not narcissism) shared significant between-person associations with bullying. Within-person cross-lagged relations supported both disposition- (e.g., Machiavellianism at Grade 10  bullying at Grade 11) and perpetration-driven pathways (e.g., bullying at Grade 11  narcissism at Grade 12). In Study 2, cross-lagged panel modeling with the same sample as Study 1 revealed that secondary (i.e., impulsivity), but not primary (i.e., callous-unemotionality), psychopathy as well as delinquency were positively correlated with being in a current dating relationship at Grade 10. An indirect effect was found, whereby secondary psychopathy at Grade 10 positively predicted delinquency at Grade 11, which then predicted being a dating relationship one year later. In Study 3, path analysis with a sample of N = 516 adults aged 18–61 demonstrated that narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy positively predicted dominance status-striving, whereas only narcissism positively predicted prestige. Indirect aggression mediated the positive associations between psychopathy and sadism with dominance status-striving. Findings from the current dissertation indicate that dark personality traits are dynamically related to bullying and delinquency in youth, as well as aggression in adults, which is of relevance to educators, clinicians, and researchers looking to curb problematic behaviour that can carry significant personal and interpersonal harm.