The effects of the Dark Triad traits on mental health

Abstract

The current study investigated the effects of the Dark Triad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) on mental health indicators. The sample consisted of students from the Hungarian Language Teacher Training Faculty in Subotica (University of Novi Sad) and adults, altogether 439 individuals and the participation in the study was on a voluntary basis. The age range was between 18-72 years and there were 202 males and 237 females. They completed the Short Dark Triad Scale (SD3) and the Mental Health Test (MHT), which is a new measure that can identify the levels of Well-being, Savoring, Creative and Executing efficiency, Self-regulation and Resilience. Results regarding the effect of gender differences are discussed. We have also used hierarchical regression analyses to investigate the effects of the Dark Triad traits on mental health and our results have shown that narcissism predicts all variables of mental health positively, while psychopathy negatively (except resilience). Machiavellianism is somewhere in between the previous two, because it predicts Savoring and Creative and executing efficiency positively, but Self-control and Resilience negatively. Generally speaking, our results are in line with previous studies.

Keywords

• Dark Triad
• mental health
• Serbia