Spiritual well-being and “dark” personality traits: Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism

TL;DR

This study explores how spiritual well-being relates to dark personality traits like Machiavellianism and narcissism in a Russian-speaking population.

Contribution

The study is the first to investigate spiritual well-being and the Dark Tetrad traits in a Russian-speaking sample, using validated instruments.

Findings

Spiritual well-being is negatively associated with Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism.

Narcissism shows a complex relationship, positively predicting existential and overall spiritual well-being.

Sadism is the strongest negative predictor of spiritual well-being.

Abstract

The study of human well-being and its contributing factors remains a central concern in psychological science. One under-researched area involves the relationship between spiritual well-being—an integrative indicator of health and life satisfaction—and “Dark Personality” traits: Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and sadism. No prior studies have explored this relationship within the Russian population, largely due to the absence of a validated instrument for assessing spiritual well-being. The present study attempts to address this empirical void. The aim of the study was to examine the relationship between spiritual well-being and Dark Tetrad traits in a Russian-speaking sample.

The empirical sample consisted of 959 Russian-speaking participants (761 women and 198 men; M age = 38.6, SD = 14). Spiritual well-being was assessed using the Spiritual Well-Being Scale. The Dark Tetrad traits were measured with the Short Dark Tetrad Questionnaire. Data analysis was conducted using R version 4.5.1 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing). Descriptive statistics, Spearman’s rank correlation coefficient (ρ), as well as univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were applied.

The correlational analysis supported the hypothesis of a negative association between spiritual well-being and Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and sadism. However, univariate and multivariate regression analyses revealed more complex interactions. For the RWB subscale measured by the SWBS, analysis indicated a significant shift in the association with psychopathy: from negative (β = −0.44 [95% CI: −0.61; −0.28]) to positive (β = 0.38 [95% CI: 0.21; 0.55], p < 0.001) after controlling for sadism. Narcissism was demonstrated to be a strong positive predictor of existential well-being and overall spiritual well-being (β = 0.32 [95% CI: 0.22; 0.42], p < 0.001 and β = 0.26 [95% CI: 0.07; 0.46], p = 0.009, respectively).

The spiritual well-being is systematically and negatively associated with the common core of dark personality (D-core). Sadism emerges as the most potent negative predictor, underscoring a fundamental incompatibility between pleasure in cruelty and spiritual health. While Psychopathy and Machiavellianism also reflect this harmful core, Narcissism presents a nuanced picture: its negative association is attributable to its shared variance with the D-core, whereas its residual, agentic components can positively support existential and spiritual well-being. These findings highlight that spiritual well-being is particularly sensitive to the underlying motivational core of dark traits, being eroded by configurations centered on callous self-interest but capable of integrating more adaptive, self-assured qualities.