An investigation on the relationships between dark triad personality traits, marital satisfaction, tendency to cheat in the relationship, and intimate partner violence attitude

The purpose of this study is to test whether the increase in Dark Triad personality traits in adult and married individuals is associated with decreased marital satisfaction through the mediating roles of increased tendency to cheat and partner violence attitudes. The research sample consists of 467 married participants who are between the ages of 18 and 60 and have been living with their spouses for at least 6 months. 246 of the participants were women; 221 of them were men. Personal Information Form, Abbreviated Dark Triad Scale, Marital Life Scale, Cheating Tendency Scale and Attitudes Towards Violence in Close Relationships Scale were used to collect data from the participants who volunteered to participate in the research. According to the findings of the research, an increase in cheating tendencies and partner violence attitudes can be observed in individuals with Dark Triad personality traits. In the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits and marital satisfaction, it was observed that the tendency to cheat had a mediating role, while partner violence had no mediating role. As a result of the exploratory analyses, it is understood that in the relationship between the Dark Triad personality traits and marital satisfaction, in addition to the tendency to cheat, attitudes towards abuse, that is, psychological violence, one of the sub-dimensions of partner violence attitudes, has a mediating role on the decrease in marital satisfaction. These findings are also valid when the Dark Triad dimensions Machiavellianism and psychopathy are included in the model. The findings were discussed in the light of the literature.