Milieu effects on the Dark Triad traits and their sex differences in 49 countries
Jonason P.K. Czerwiński S.K. Tobaldo F. Ramos-Diaz J. Adamovic M. Adams B.G. Ardi R. Bălțătescu S. Cha Y.S. Chobthamkit P. El-Astal S. Gundolf K. Jukić T. Knezović E. Liik K. Maltby J. Mamuti A. Milfont T.L. Moreta-Herrera R. Park J. Piotrowski J. Samekin A. Tiliouine H. Tomšik R. Umeh C. van den Bos K. Vauclair C.-M. Włodarczyk A. Yahiiaiev I. Żemojtel-Piotrowska M. Sedikides C.
October 2022Elsevier Ltd
Personality and Individual Differences
2022#197
Most research on the development of personality traits like the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy) focuses on local effects like parenting style or attachment, but people live in a larger society that may set the stage for any local effects. Here we paired nation-level data on the traits from 49 nations with several milieu indicators (e.g., life expectancy, homicide rates) from three timepoints (and change among them) where the average participant (≈ 22yo) would have been a child (≈ 6yo), a pre-teen (≈ 11yo), and a teenager (≈ 16yo). Congruent with previous research, variance in narcissism was far more sensitive to variance in milieu conditions in general and across all three time points than variance in Machiavellianism or psychopathy. The milieu conditions differentiated the traits somewhat with income and education revealing negative correlations with narcissism, positive correlations with Machiavellianism, and null correlations with psychopathy. Sex differences in Machiavellianism and narcissism were correlated with homicide rates across the three timepoints. The evidence that changes in milieu conditions in ones past predicts the traits was erratic, but larger sex differences in the traits were associated with decreased life expectancies and homicide rates between childhood and pre-teens.
Cross-cultural , Dark Triad , Machiavellianism , Narcissism , Psychopathy , Sex differences
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University of Padua, Italy
University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, Poland
University of Gdansk, Poland
Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades, Peru
Monash University, Australia
University of Amsterdam, Netherlands
University of Johannesburg, South Africa
Universitas Airlangga, Indonesia
University of Oradea, Romania
National University of Singapore, Singapore
Thammasat University, Thailand
Al Azhar University-Gaza, Palestine
University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Austria
University Josip Juraj Strossmayer, Croatia
International University of Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina
Tallinn University, Estonia
University of Leicester, UK, United Kingdom
University Mother Teresa-Skopje, North Macedonia
University of Waikato, New Zealand
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Ecuador
NUCB Business School, Japan
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Poland
M. Narikbayev Kazguu University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Université dOran 2, Algeria
Research Institute for Child Psychology and Pathopsychology, Slovakia
College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria
Utrecht University, Netherlands
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL), CIS-IUL, Lisboa, Portugal
Universidad Católica del Norte, Chile
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, Ukraine
University of Southampton, UK, United Kingdom
University of Padua
University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński
University of Gdansk
Universidad de Ciencias y Humanidades
Monash University
University of Amsterdam
University of Johannesburg
Universitas Airlangga
University of Oradea
National University of Singapore
Thammasat University
Al Azhar University-Gaza
University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria
University Josip Juraj Strossmayer
International University of Sarajevo
Tallinn University
University of Leicester
University Mother Teresa-Skopje
University of Waikato
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador
NUCB Business School
Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University
M. Narikbayev Kazguu University
Université dOran 2
Research Institute for Child Psychology and Pathopsychology
College of Medicine
Utrecht University
Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTE-IUL)
Universidad Católica del Norte
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
University of Southampton
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