Narcissistic personality traits, manipulation and dating violence among university students

In this study, the relationship between narcissistic personality traits of university students, and their levels of resorting to manipulation in human relations and perpetrating or being exposed to psychological violence in dating relationships was examined. The sample study group of the research consisted of 391 university students. The data collection tools of the study are "Personal Information Form", "Narcissistic Personality Inventory", "Manipulation in Human Relations Scale" and "Multidimensional Emotional Abuse Scale". SPSS 22 program was used to analyze the data; correlation analyses, regression analyses and t-test were performed. As a result of the study, it was seen that there was a moderately significant relationship between narcissism and manipulation, and that the narcissistic personality trait was a significant predictor of manipulation. Also, it was found that narcissistic personality trait had a low-level significant relationship with perpetrating and being exposed to psychological violence a dating relationship, and that the narcissistic personality trait was a significant predictor of perpetrating psychological violence in dating relationships. In addition, it was found that the mean scores for narcissistic personality traits and manipulation were significantly higher in men, whereas the mean scores for perpetrating psychological violence in dating relationships were significantly higher in women. No significant difference was observed between gender in exposure to psychological violence in dating relationships. Keywords: narcissistic personality traits, manipulation, dating violence, university students