Dark Tetrad and psychological distress among male violent offenders and male community adults

Abstract

The first aim of this study was to explore differences between male violent offenders and male community adults in Dark Tetrad traits and psychological distress. The second aim was to investigate moderation effects of dark traits in the prediction of psychological distress based on the membership of violent offenders or community adults. The sample included 142 male violent offenders (M = 40.73, SD = 11.43) convicted of murder, severe murder, or rape, and 573 men from the community population in Serbia without a history of criminal convictions (M = 41.71, SD = 15.11). Serbian adaptations of the Short Dark Triad (SD3), Comprehensive Assessment of Sadistic Tendencies (CAST), and Clinical Outcomes in Routine Evaluation - Outcome Measure (CORE-OM) were used. Results showed that violent offenders had higher scores on psychopathy and problems in social and general functioning, while community adults had higher scores on narcissism. Furthermore, moderation analyses showed that physical sadism was significantly correlated with risk behaviors in the community adults, but not in violent offenders.