The dark triad and mental well-being: The mediating role of cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation

In recent years, there has been growing interest in the Dark Triad personality traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—and their effects on psychological well-being. While prior studies have extensively examined the negative psychological outcomes associated with Dark Triad traits, limited research has investigated the specific mechanisms through which cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation buffer against these effects. This study investigates the mediating roles of cognitive flexibility and emotion regulation difficulties in the relationship between Dark Triad traits and psychological well-being. Data were collected from 408 participants (M age = 22.78, SD = 4.69, age range = 19–60) using the dark triad (The Short Dark Triad Scale), emotion regulation (the Difficulties with Emotion Regulation Scale Short Form), cognitive flexibility (the Cognitive Control and Cognitive Flexibility Scale), and mental well-being (the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale Short Form). The findings revealed that Machiavellianism and psychopathy were negatively related to psychological well-being, whereas narcissism was positively associated with mental well-being. Moreover, emotion regulation difficulties played a significant mediating role in the relationship between Machiavellianism and psychopathy on mental well-being, while cognitive flexibility played a smaller but notable mediating role. We discuss the limitations and future research directions.