Vulnerable Narcissism as Key Link Between Dark Triad Traits, Mental Toughness, Sleep Quality and Stress

Abstract

IntroductionThe concept of the Dark Triad (DT) consists of the dimensions of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, and has gained increased interest within the last 15 years for its predictive power to explain success in the fields of economy, politics, and professional sport. However, recent research suggests that the associations between DT and behavior are not as uniform as expected.AimsInvestigating the associations between DT traits and vulnerable narcissism, mental toughness, sleep quality, and stress perception.MethodsA total of 720 participants between 18 and 28 years took part in the study. The sample consisted of military cadres in the US (n = 238), Switzerland (n = 220), and of students from the university of Basel (n = 262). Participants completed self-rating questionnaires covering DT traits, mental toughness, vulnerable narcissism, sleep quality, and perceived stress.ResultsIrrespective of the sample, participants scoring high on vulnerable narcissism also reported higher DT traits, lower mental toughness, poor sleep quality, and higher scores on perceived stress.ConclusionsThe present pattern of results suggests a more fine-grained association between DT traits and further behavior, calling into question to what extent DT traits might be a predictor for greater success in the fields of economy, politics or elite sports. Specifically, vulnerable narcissism seems to be key for more unfavourable behavior.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.

The bright side of dark: Exploring the positive effect of narcissism on perceived stress through mental toughness

“…This finding has been confirmed by a recent study, which reported that participants scoring high on VN also reported higher DT traits, lower Mental Toughness (MT), poor sleep quality, and higher scores on PS (Annen, Nakkas, Sadeghi Bahmani, Gerber, Holsboer-Trachsler, & Brand, 2017). The authors suggested that a more fine-grained exploration of the different types of SN and their association with further behavior may be necessary to shed light on the role of this highly complex personality trait on symptoms of psychopathology (Annen et al, 2017).…”

The positive effect of narcissism on depressive symptoms through mental toughness: Narcissism may be a dark trait but it does help with seeing the world less grey

“…Research suggests that GN links mainly to positive outcomes, whereas VN predicts negative outcomes [9]. For example, a recent study observed that participants scoring high on VN also reported higher DT traits, lower Mental Toughness (MT), poor sleep quality, and higher scores on perceived stress [10].…”

Psychometric of the Dark Personality (Dark Triad) Instrument in Iranian Students

“…In this regard, Annen et al (2017) [18] investigated the relationship between the triple factors of dark personality and doping and concluded that athletes with a higher dark personality are more likely to use performance enhancers. Therefore, anti-doping training and monitoring can reduce the possibility of legal bans on them.…”

“…Therefore, anti-doping training and monitoring can reduce the possibility of legal bans on them. Also, it will reduce the negative image of sports as a result of unfair competition [18]. Ueno et al (2017) [15] concluded that the correlation between the triple factors of dark personality and athletes' gender, the type of sports event, and the level of competition, clearly indicate the importance of future research regarding this dimension of athletes' personality and the process of their sports performance and behavioral problems [15].…”

“…Although not much time has passed since the introduction of this instrument in 2010, research has been done on it in different cultures [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19]. For example, Jonason and Webster (2010) [19] have obtained its internal consistency coefficients in two separate studied samples for the narcissism component of 0.85 and 0.87 and Machiavellianism 0.67 and 0.72 and for psychopathy 0.62 and 0.66.…”