ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: The current study investigated actor and partner effects and the effects of (dis)similarity in the dark triad traits on self-reported relationship satisfaction of both members of romantic couples. We examined these effects on actual similarity, similarity of perception, and men's and women's perceived similarity. METHODS: On the sample of 205 heterosexual romantic couples, we administered questionnaires for measuring self-reported and partner-reported psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism, as well as self-reported relationship satisfaction. For analyzing data, we used dyadic response surface analysis. RESULTS: The results corroborated our hypotheses that the dark triad traits exerted mainly negative actor and partner effects on both partners' relationship satisfaction. The effects of (dis)similarity were obtained for psychopathy and narcissism. Dissimilarity in psychopathy was related to lower men's relationship satisfaction. Dissimilarity in narcissism was related to lower, whereas similarity in this trait to higher relationship satisfaction of both partners. Generally, our findings were similar across methods and sources of assessment. CONCLUSION: The results suggest that the DT traits of both members of a romantic couple matter for judgments of their relationship satisfaction and that along with actor and partner effects, the effects of (dis)similarity in psychopathy and narcissism also contribute to their relationship satisfaction.
ABSTRACT
By using actor-partner interdependence modeling (APIM), we examined the effects of the Dark Triad traits, psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism on two mate retention (MR) domains, cost-inflicting (C-I B) and benefit-provisioning behaviors (B-P B) as well as overall mate retention (OMR) on the sample of 100 heterosexual romantic couples. These effects were examined first without and then with the control of the overlap between the traits. The results show that actor effects of the Dark Triad traits on MR were stronger in men, and regarding partner effects, the Dark Triad traits in men exerted more frequent MR in women than women's Dark Triad traits in men. In line with our prediction, psychopathy had the strongest actor and partner effects on MR behaviors, both in men and women. Considering MR domains, we found actor effects on C-I B only in men, whereas actor effects on B-P B in both men and women. The Dark Triad traits, especially in men, exerted stronger partner effects on C-I B than on B-P B domain. Almost all actor and partner effects of psychopathy and narcissism remained significant after the control for the overlap between the traits, whereas all actor effects of Machiavellianism became nonsignificant. In both sets of analyses, without and with the control for the overlap between these traits, the most frequent plausible dyadic patterns were actor-only and couple pattern.
