PREDICTORS OF THE DARK TRIAD PERSONALITY: PER-CEIVED PARENTING STYLES AND CHILDHOOD TRAU-MAS

Abstract

Recent studies show that childhood traumas are associated with difficulties in emotional regulation, which, in turn, have been linked to the development of the dark triad personality traits. The dark triadis associated with emotional dysregulation, interpersonal problems, and aggression. Furthermore, family and parental attitudes during childhood are associated with personality and psychologicalwell-being. This demonstrates the importance of childhood experiences. This study aims to examinethe extent to which parental attitudes and childhood traumas predict the dark triad in university students and to investigate gender differences. The study employed a correlational (cross-sectional)survey design, and participants were recruited through convenience sampling. The study included410 students from a state university in the eastern region of Türkiye (Hakkari University) (male: 46.34%; female: 53.66%). The relationships between university students’ dark triad personality traits, perceived parental attitudes, and childhood traumas were analysed using Pearson correlations, simple linear regressions, and independent-samples t-tests. The study found a positive correlation between university students’ total dark triad personality scores and parental overprotective attitudes, rejecting attitudes, and childhood traumas. Regression results show that parental emotional warmth does not predict Dark Triad personality traits. In contrast, overprotective and rejecting parental attitudes significantly predicted Dark Triad personality traits. Childhood traumas also significantly predicted the dark triad personality traits, and greater perceived overprotectiveness and parental rejection were associated with higher levels of these traits. Dark triad scores did not differ significantly between genders on any dimension; male students showed descriptively higher psychopathy scores than female students, but this difference only approached statistical significance. Because the design is correlational and cross-sectional, the findings should be interpreted as associations and predictiverelationships rather than as evidence of causal effects.