LAHORE / LONDON (IT BOLTWISE) – A new study shows that young adults with high dark personality traits such as manipulation and self-centeredness have poorer family relationships. These findings come from a study in Pakistan that offers the first non-Western look at the impact of these personality traits on family functioning.
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A recent study found that young adults who have higher levels of manipulative, self-centered and callous personality traits tend to report lower quality of family interactions. The research, published in Journal of Professional & Applied Psychologysuggests a clear connection between these so-called “Dark Triad” traits and the health of family dynamics.
Researchers have long been interested in how personality develops, often focusing on widely accepted models of personality. More recently, however, attention has shifted to understanding the less socially desirable aspects of human nature, collectively known as the Dark Triad. This includes Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. These traits are associated with behaviors that can strain social bonds, but their specific influence within the family has been a less explored area.
The study authors wanted to examine this connection in a specific cultural and demographic context. They focused on young adults in Pakistan, a country where a large portion of the population is between the ages of 18 and 25. This time is a formative period in which an individual’s personality and perspective are still developing and are heavily influenced by their immediate environment, especially family. By studying this group, the researchers wanted to add a non-Western perspective to a field of research that had previously focused predominantly on European and North American populations.
“The motivation for this study arose from the fact that this area remains largely unexplored in Pakistan, leaving a significant research gap,” said study author Quratul Ain Arshad, who is currently studying law at the University of London. “This issue represents a real problem that has not received the attention it deserves. I have personally observed several families affected by these dark traits and struggling to cope due to a lack of awareness and understanding. Through this research, I wanted to shed light on this issue so that individuals can better recognize what is happening to them and those around them and seek the help and guidance they need.”
To conduct their study, researchers recruited a sample of 300 young adults aged 18 to 25 from various universities and companies in Lahore, Pakistan. Participation was voluntary and the confidentiality of responses was protected. Each participant completed two self-report questionnaires designed to measure various psychological constructs.
The first questionnaire was the Short Dark Triad scale, which assesses the three core characteristics. Machiavellianism is characterized by a manipulative and cynical worldview, narcissism involves a sense of grandeur and entitlement, and psychopathy is characterized by impulsivity and a lack of empathy. The second questionnaire was a modified version of the Family Assessment Device, which measures the quality of family interactions in several dimensions. These dimensions include problem solving, communication, assigned roles, emotional responsiveness, emotional involvement, and behavioral control.
After data collection, the research team conducted a statistical analysis to determine whether there was a relationship between Dark Triad Trait scores and Family Functioning scores. This type of analysis shows whether two variables tend to move together, either in the same or opposite directions. The study specifically tested four hypotheses about these potential connections.
The main result confirmed the researchers’ main prediction. There was a clear negative relationship between overall Dark Triad scale scores and the overall quality of family interaction. This suggests that as scores in Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy increased, reported levels of healthy family functioning tended to decrease. This suggests that these aversive personality traits are actually associated with difficulties within the family environment.
When researchers examined the traits individually, the results were more nuanced. The connection between Machiavellianism and general family functioning was found to be very weak and not statistically significant. This suggests that a person’s tendency to manipulate may not have a direct, measurable connection to perceptions of overall family effectiveness.
A different pattern emerged in psychopathy. This characteristic had a modest but statistically significant negative relationship with what is known as “affective responsiveness,” which is a family’s ability to respond to situations with appropriate emotions. Simply put, young adults with higher psychopathy scores were more likely to come from families they perceived as less emotionally attuned.
The final hypothesis examined the relationship between narcissism and “affective involvement,” which refers to the extent to which family members show interest and care for one another. Similar to the finding for Machiavellianism, this association was also very weak and was not considered statistically significant. This result suggests that a person’s level of narcissism may not be directly linked to the level of emotional investment they perceive within their family.
“The key takeaway from this study is the importance of self-awareness,” Arshad told PsyPost. “Each individual should strive to understand their own personality traits and reflect on their behavior. By doing so, they can not only improve themselves, but also better support those who exhibit these traits.”
The study had some limitations. The results are based on self-report questionnaires, meaning participants’ responses may have been influenced by a desire to portray themselves or their families in a positive light. The sample was also drawn exclusively from one city in Pakistan and was limited to young adults, meaning the results may not be generalizable to other age groups or cultures.
For future research, the authors suggest that longitudinal studies that follow individuals over long periods of time could provide deeper insights into how Dark Triad traits and family dynamics influence each other. Using multiple assessment methods, beyond self-reports, could also help provide a more complete picture of these complex interactions. Such work could help design interventions aimed at improving family relationships and promoting healthier personality development.
“The sample size used in this study is not large enough to represent the entire young adult population in Pakistan, but this study is significant in understanding how these characteristics shape interactions at the micro level,” Arshad said. “The effect of this study is that it will help researchers address the developmental aspects of these traits and continue to conduct longitudinal studies to understand the impact of Dark Triad traits in both older and younger populations as young adults.”
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