The role of dark triad of personality in the prediction behavioral risk-taking and moral disengagement

Introduction: Diagnosis and identification of the antecedents of risky behaviors and moral disengagement will lead to better treatment-intervention plans designed for prevention and, eventually, reduction of immoral behaviors and risky behaviors. This research, therefore, was conducted to fulfill the purpose of replying to the question of whether the dark triad personality traits play a role in behavioral risk-taking and moral disengagement.

Method: In a descriptive-correlational study, 265 male pre-university students of Birjand city were selected by stage cluster sampling method. The participants completed Jonason and Webster’s (2010) dark triad scale, Iranian adolescent risk-taking scale, and Bandura’s moral disengagement scale (1996). Data were analyzed by using multiple regression analysis.

The cluster sampling method was used for sample selection, and Jonason and Webster’s (2010) dark triad scale, Iranian adolescent risk-taking scale, and Bandura’s moral disengagement scale (1996) were used for data collection. Multiple regression analysis was used for investigation of the research hypotheses.

Results: The results demonstrated that narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellism account for 33 percent of the behavioral risk-taking variance. On that basis, if narcissism, psychopathy, and machiavellism are incremented by one, the change increases the behavioral risk-taking scores by 0.30, 0.26, and 0.24, respectively. Furthermore, the findings of the research demonstrated that psychopathy and machiavellism account for 29 percent of the moral disengagement variance, but narcissism was not a predictor of moral disengagement. If psychopathy and machiavellism are incremented by one, the change increases the moral disengagement scores by 0.39 and 0.35.

Discussion and conclusion: The results of this study showed that dark triad personality traits play an important role in predicting behavioral risk-taking and moral disengagement in boy students.