Dark Tetrad Traits and Mental and Physical Health: Mediating Role of Coping Strategies.

Secondary psychopathy and Machiavellianism were directly associated with poorer mental health.

• Study used a correlational, cross-sectional design on a sample of 492 adults.
• Dark Tetrad traits were examined at the facet level, distinguishing primary and secondary psychopathy and narcissistic admiration and rivalry.
• Direct associations were found independent of the mediation pathways through coping strategies.
• Mental health was assessed as an outcome variable alongside physical health (somatisation).

Narcissistic admiration and primary psychopathy were directly linked to better mental health.

• These two dark traits showed opposite associations to secondary psychopathy and Machiavellianism in relation to mental health outcomes.
• The distinction between primary and secondary psychopathy facets was critical, as they showed divergent relationships with health.
• Similarly, narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry showed divergent relationships, underscoring the importance of facet-level analysis.
• These positive associations were found in direct effects within the mediation model.

Secondary psychopathy had a positive direct effect on somatisation while sadism had a negative direct effect on somatisation.

• Somatisation was used as the measure of physical health in this study.
• Secondary psychopathy was associated with greater somatisation (worse physical health).
• Sadism was associated with lower somatisation (better physical health) as a direct effect.
• These direct effects were identified within the mediation analysis framework examining coping strategies as mediators.

Emotion-oriented coping was the key mediator between dark traits and mental health, and the only significant mediator for somatisation.

• Three coping strategies were examined as potential mediators: emotion-oriented, task-oriented, and avoidant coping.
• Emotion-oriented coping emerged as the most consistent mediator across both mental and physical health outcomes.
• For somatisation specifically, emotion-oriented coping was the only significant mediator among the three coping strategies tested.
• Task-oriented and avoidant coping also served as mediators for mental health but not for somatisation.

Secondary psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissistic rivalry were related to worse mental health through higher use of emotion-oriented coping.

• Higher emotion-oriented coping mediated the relationship between these three dark traits and poorer mental health outcomes.
• Additionally, secondary psychopathy was also related to worse health through lower use of task-oriented coping as a second mediation pathway.
• This indicates that secondary psychopathy had two indirect pathways to poor mental health: through elevated emotion-oriented coping and through reduced task-oriented coping.
• Machiavellianism and narcissistic rivalry shared the emotion-oriented coping mediation pathway but not the task-oriented coping pathway.

Narcissistic admiration and primary psychopathy showed positive relationships with good health through higher task-oriented and avoidant coping or lower emotion-oriented coping.

• These traits were associated with better health outcomes via their links to adaptive or less maladaptive coping patterns.
• Higher task-oriented coping and/or higher avoidant coping mediated positive health associations for narcissistic admiration and primary psychopathy.
• Lower emotion-oriented coping also served as a mediating pathway linking these traits to better health.
• This pattern was directionally opposite to that found for secondary psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissistic rivalry.

The study examined Dark Tetrad traits at the facet level in a sample of 492 adults using mediation analysis.

• The sample consisted of 492 adults in a correlational, cross-sectional design.
• Dark Tetrad traits included narcissism (with admiration and rivalry facets), Machiavellianism, primary psychopathy, secondary psychopathy, and sadism.
• Coping strategies (emotion-oriented, task-oriented, and avoidant) were examined as mediators.
• Both mental health and physical health (somatisation) were included as separate outcome variables.