A cross-lagged relationship of subjective stress and dark tetrad traits in adolescence

The relationship between stress and Dark Tetrad traits is complex, and there are indications that exposure to stress can lead to elevated dark traits. This study aimed to longitudinally explore the relationship between subjective stress and Dark Tetrad traits in adolescents. Data were collected within the larger ongoing longitudinal research project Longitudinal Adolescent Stress Study in Croatia. Analyses were conducted on a subsample of high-school students who provided valid answers in at least two out of three study waves (N = 1618, 41 % male, M_age = 16.34, SD_age = 0.63 at the first time point). Machiavellianism was positively related to subjective stress at each time point, narcissism negatively, while psychopathy and sadism had nonsignificant or negligible correlations with stress. To examine the longitudinal relationships and reciprocal association between Dark Traits and subjective stress, random intercept cross-lagged panel models were used, and only the cross-lagged path coefficients from stress to Machiavellianism were significant, albeit small (p₂₁ = 0.19; 95 % CI [0.04, 0.36] and p₃₂ = 0.21; 95 % CI [0.06.42]), indicating that experiencing stress increases Machiavellianism scores over time.