Relationship between impaired attachment type and dark triad traits in patients with borderline personality disorder (pilot study)

Abstract

The study shows how insecure attachment types (anxious and avoidant) are associated with traits of the «dark triad» (narcissism, psychopathy and Machiavellianism) in a sample of patients with borderline personality disorder. It was found that among the respondents, the greatest relationship was found in individuals with a predominance of the anxious type of attachment, who showed a statistically significant sharpening of such traits as: impulsiveness, manipulativeness, lack of sympathy and empathy («psychopathy»). And weakly expressed, relative to the sample, traits of demonstrativeness, egocentrism, inflated self-esteem (“narcissism”) and “Machiavellian” traits: a weak focus on moral standards, fixation on personal gain. There were no reliable data on the relationship between the avoidant type and dark triad traits in the course of the study, however, avoidant and anxious types are significantly correlated with low levels of psychological well-being among patients with borderline personality disorder.

Keywords

• insecure attachment, borderline personality disorder, «dark triad», psychological well-being, «big five»