Differences in the Relationship between Personal Values and the Dark Triad in Men and Women

Abstract

Despite the extensive literature on the research of personal
values and the Dark Triad independently, studies on their
relationship are relatively scarce. The aim of this paper was
to examine the differences between men and women in
personal values and the traits of the Dark Triad; and to
examine if their relationship is different for men and women.
A sample of 510 students filled out the Portrait Values
Questionnaire and the Short Dark Triad questionnaire. The
results indicate higher values of hedonism, achievement,
safety and benevolence among women and higher
Machiavellianism and psychopathy, but not narcissism,
among men. The moderation of the relationship of personal
values and the Dark Triad regarding sex was also significant,
where among men it is possible to predict higher
Machiavellianism with higher values of safety and to predict
higher narcissism with higher values of power, while among
women these relations were not significant. Women who have higher values of safety and benevolence mostly achieve lower results on psychopathy and this relationship was not
obtained among men. Generally, a higher amount of the
variance of the Dark Triad was explained among the male
sample, where narcissism is better predicted by personal
values than it is among women.