Light Triad traits of personality as moderators between the dark core of personality, psychopathy, and antisociality/criminality

Pedro Pechorro; Victor H. Palma; João Maroco; Mário R. Simões; Matt DeLisi

doi:10.1080/13218719.2024.2427627

Light Triad traits of personality as moderators between the dark core of personality, psychopathy, and antisociality/criminality

Pedro Pechorro
, Victor H. Palma
, João Maroco
, Mário R. Simões
, Matt DeLisi

University of Coimbra
ISPA - Instituto Universitário
Iowa State University

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

5 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The current study aims at examining the potential role of Light Triad traits of personality as moderators of the dark core of personality–psychopathy–antisociality/criminality links. A convenience sample composed of 354 adult participants (M = 32.02 years, SD = 13.26 years, range = 18–68 years) from Portugal was used in the current study. Results show that only the Kantianism trait of the Light Triad Scale (LTS) measure significantly moderates the dark factor of personality (D) measure and the psychopathy trait of the short dark tetrad (SD4) measure when predicting the antisociality/criminality outcome, while the Light Triad total score only moderates the psychopathy trait. Findings suggest that the conceptualisation of Light Triad traits –more specifically, the Kantianism trait–as protective factors for antisocial and criminal behaviour are a promising avenue for research, but more investigation is needed about its moderation effects to inform behavioural interventions in forensic settings.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	88-100
Number of pages	13
Journal	Psychiatry, Psychology and Law
Volume	33
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1080/13218719.2024.2427627
Publication status	Published - 7 Jan 2025
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 The Australian and New Zealand Association of Psychiatry, Psychology and Law.

Funding

This study was partly conducted at the CINEICC [UIDB/00730/2020, UIDP/00730/2020], Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação, Universidade de Coimbra, and the first author was supported by the Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education, and the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (https://doi.org/10.54499/2022.07928.CEECIND/CP1714/CT0021). The dataset analysed during the current study is available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Funders
Portuguese Ministry of Science, Technology and Higher Education
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia

Keywords

Light Triad
crime
dark factor
moderation
psychopathic traits

Access to Document

10.1080/13218719.2024.2427627

Cite this

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title = "Light Triad traits of personality as moderators between the dark core of personality, psychopathy, and antisociality/criminality",

abstract = "The current study aims at examining the potential role of Light Triad traits of personality as moderators of the dark core of personality{\textendash}psychopathy{\textendash}antisociality/criminality links. A convenience sample composed of 354 adult participants (M = 32.02 years, SD = 13.26 years, range = 18{\textendash}68 years) from Portugal was used in the current study. Results show that only the Kantianism trait of the Light Triad Scale (LTS) measure significantly moderates the dark factor of personality (D) measure and the psychopathy trait of the short dark tetrad (SD4) measure when predicting the antisociality/criminality outcome, while the Light Triad total score only moderates the psychopathy trait. Findings suggest that the conceptualisation of Light Triad traits {\textendash}more specifically, the Kantianism trait{\textendash}as protective factors for antisocial and criminal behaviour are a promising avenue for research, but more investigation is needed about its moderation effects to inform behavioural interventions in forensic settings.",

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AU - Pechorro, Pedro

AU - Palma, Victor H.

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AU - Simões, Mário R.

AU - DeLisi, Matt

PY - 2025/1/7

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Light Triad traits of personality as moderators between the dark core of personality, psychopathy, and antisociality/criminality

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Funding

Keywords

Access to Document

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