Research On The Dark Triad And Adolescent Intentional Self-regulation: The Mediating Role Of Perceived Stress And The Moderating Role Of Social Media Self-control Failure

The Dark Triad consists of three separate and intertwined personality traits: Machiavellianism,psychopathy,and narcissism.These three traits have different effects on individual behavior.Intentional self-regulation is a behavior that individuals adopt to better develop themselves and is important for their positive development.This study explores the effects of three dark personalities on intentional self-regulation based on the Qualitative Stress Interaction Model and the Stress Systems Model.In the context of considering social media as a major way of life and learning in adolescent development and post-epidemic period,perceived stress and social media self-control failure were introduced to further explore the role of both in the influence of the Dark Triad personality on intentional self-regulation.In this study,a total of 1101 adolescents from multiple schools in Sichuan Province were measured using the Dark Twelve Bar Scale,Perceived Stress Scale,Social Media Self-Control Failure Scale,and Intentional Self-Regulation Scale.1.Machiavellianism is positively related to intentional self-regulation and negatively related to perceptual stress and social media self-control failure;psychopathy is negatively related to intentional self-regulation and positively related to perceptual stress and social media self-control failure;narcissism is positively related to intentional self-regulation and negatively related to perceptual stress and social media self-control failure.Perceived stress is positively related to social media self-control failure and negatively related to intentional self-regulation;social media self-control failure is negatively related to intentional self-regulation.2.Machiavellianism and narcissism positively predicted intentional self-regulatory behaviour,whereas psychopathy negatively predicted intentional self-regulatory behaviour.3.Perceived stress partially mediated the relationship between the Dark triad personalities and intentional self-regulation.4.Social media self-control failure plays a moderating role in the effects of Machiavellianism and narcissism on perceptual stress,as well as in the effects of psychopathy on intentional self-regulation.The effects of Machiavellianism and narcissism on perceptual stress and the effects of psychopathy on intentional self-regulation diminish with increased social media self-control failure.In summary,the results of this study suggest that the three dark personalities differ in their influence on intentional self-regulation;that the three dark personalities not only directly influence adolescents’ intentional self-regulatory,but also influence intentional self-regulation through perceptual stress;and that the failure of social media self-control moderates the effects of Machiavellianism and narcissism on perceptual stress and psychopathy on intentional self-regulation.The effects of social media self-control failures moderate the effects of Machiavellianism and narcissism on perceptual stress and psychopathy on intentional self-regulation.