Cited by 165Personality Traits and PsychologyPsychological Well-being and Life SatisfactionPersonality Disorders and Psychopathology

The Dark Triad, happiness and subjective well-being

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Egan, Vincent, Chan, Stephanie, Shorter, Gillian W.·2014·Personality and Individual Differences

Abstract

Narcissism can be expressed in grandiose or vulnerable forms. We examined whether positive psychological states (defined by the Oxford Happiness Inventory (OHI) and the Diener Satisfaction With Life (SWL) scales) assisted differentiation relative to general personality traits and the “the Dark Triad” (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism, measured by the D12 and Short Dark Triad (SD3) indices) for 840 persons primarily from the UK, USA and Canada. The best fitting structural equation model comprised two latent variables, one of positive mood (comprising total scores on the OHI and SWL scales), and another forming a “dark dyad” of Machiavellianism and psychopathy (predicted by low agreeableness and lower positive mood), with narcissism regarded as a separate construct correlated with the dark dyad. Latent positive mood was primarily predicted by higher emotional stability and extraversion. Narcissism was predicted by lower emotional stability, lower agreeableness, and higher extraversion. Latent profile analysis identified four groups in the data: “unhappy but not narcissistic”, “vulnerable narcissism”, “happy non-narcissism” and “grandiose narcissism”. Our results suggest more problematic narcissism can be identified by reference to measures indexing positive mood states and general personality traits.

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Crossref · 10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.004

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Authors
Egan, V., Chan, S., & Shorter, G. W.
Affiliations
  • University of Nottingham (GB)
  • University of Ulster (GB)
Corresponding author
Egan, Vincent
Venue
Personality and Individual Differences
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2014-09
Volume
67
Pages
17-22
ISSN
0191-8869 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W2025643420
Cited by
165
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 2 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 14 · 2023: 12 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 23 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 16 · 2017: 18 · 2016: 9 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 3
FWCI
15.73
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
other-oa
Locations
  • Personality and Individual Differences (publishedVersion)
  • Ulster University Research Portal (Ulster University) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
  • Research Portal (Queen's University Belfast) (publishedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
Keywords
Dark Triad, narcissism, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, happiness, subjective well-being, positive mood, life satisfaction, emotional stability, agreeableness, extraversion, latent profile analysis, personality traits

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