Designing and Testing a Structural Model of the Relationship between Attachment Styles and the Dark Triad of Personality: The Mediating Role of Childhood Trauma

The main objective of the current study was to investigate the role of attachment styles in dark triad of personality with the mediating role of childhood trauma among college students.

In this descriptive-correlational (cross-sectional) study, 148 students (26 men and 122 women) who studied at the Faculty of Educational Sciences and Psychology of Shahid Beheshti University in the 2019-2020 educational year, were selected through convenience sampling method. Then, they answered Collins & Read's Attachment Styles Questionnaire, Standard Child Abuse Questionnaire in Iran and Dark Triad Questionnaire. The data obtained in this study, was analyzed through path analysis method using PLS and SPSS software.

The analysis of data indicated thatanxious attachment style can predict Machiavellianism by the mediation of childhood trauma (P<0.05). Moreover, anxious attachment style was directly related to narcissism (P<0.05). Furthermore, findings demonstrated other direct paths including anxious attachment style to childhood trauma, childhood trauma to Machiavellianism and anxious attachment style to Machiavellianism (P<0.05).

As a result,individuals with insecure/anxious attachment style and high childhood trauma are more likely to be diagnosed with the dark triad of personality. Therefore, interventions based on repairing attachment styles and childhood trauma should be considered for psychotherapy and modifying dark triad of personality.