Zaytseva E.S., Erzin A.I. When a Lion is Masked as a Sheep. The Dark Triad of Personal Traits in a Group of Conditionally Healthy Teenagers

Abstract: Growing hostility, aggression and cruelty of modern teenagers are often viewed by psychologists from the point of view of personal traits interacting with social stimula. However, external determination of aggressive behavior is not always the leading one. The subject of the present research is the phenomenon of the dark traid of personal traits in a group of conditionally healthy teenagers viewed by the authors as one of the main intrapsychic factors of antisocial behavior. The concept of the Dark Triad was introduced by Paulhus and Williams in 2002. The components of the Dark Triad (subclinical forms of narcissism, machivellianism and sociopathy) interact with one another yet remain independent. The purpose of the present article is to study the relationship between components of the Dark Triad in a group of conditionally healthy teenagers, to define the leading personal traits closely connected with the Dark Triad, and development of a structure model of the phenomenon based on the authors' emperical data. The research involved 30 school students aged from 13 to 15 who did not have difficulty with their adaptation. The psychological tests included NPI-40, Lichko's pathological invesntory, machivellianism scale offered by R. Crhistie and F. L. Geis. Statistical analysis of the results was based on the exploratory factor analysis and structure modelling. The results of the research demonstrated that components of the Dark Triad were relatively independent from one another. Using the factor analysis, the authors defined 5 facors that described the Dark Traid in the best way: Aggression/sadism, suspicion/rancor, vanity, affectability and irritancy. The structure modelling showed a relative independence of components of the Dark Triad. The authors believe that these results can be used for further recognition of personal traits and character accentuations related to the Dark Triad showed by mentally healthy teenagers in order to define groups of children that tend to develop antisocial behavior, and to conduct preventive measures with them.

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