A Dark Triad Traits and Attitudes toward Women Empowerment among Students
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55737/trt/v-i.206Keywords:
Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, Women’s Empowerment, Gender Attitudes, Social RoleAbstract
The relationship between personality and social attitudes represents a significant component in understanding resistance to gender equality. This study examined how the Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, Narcissism, & Psychopathy) relate to attitudes toward women’s empowerment among university students located within Gujrat, Pakistan. The study used a cross-sectional survey design. Simple random sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 400 (53.5% Female, 46.5% Male) students from faculty of social sciences, University of Gujrat, Pakistan. Data were collected through the Short Dark Triad (Jones & Paulhus, 2013) and the Attitude toward Women Empowerment Scale (Shuja et al., 2020). The study performed a Pearson correlation and found a statistically significant negative correlation between Dark Triad traits and support for women’s empowerment (r = -.28, p < .01). The findings of multiple regression analysis highlighted that the Machiavellianism was a statistically significant (beta = -.30, p < .001) negative predictor of support for women’s empowerment. Narcissism and Psychopathy reached no statistical significance within multiple regression analysis. The study also found that males had a significantly higher score on the Dark Triad traits versus and also provided lower support for women’s empowerment than females (d = -.58). The findings of this study are framed in Social Role Theory and the Theory of Planned Behavior, indicating that psychological inhibitions to gender parity are largely attributed to strategic
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