Alexithymia as a Mediator of the Relationship Between the Vulnerable Dark Triad and Empathy

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ABSTRACT The vulnerable dark triad (VDT) is a group of maladaptive personality styles consisting of vulnerable narcissism, secondary psychopathy, and borderline personality disorder. In the current study, we tested a mediation model of the association between the VDT traits and empathic deficits. We hypothesized that the negative, indirect effect of the VDT on empathy would occur through alexithymia (i.e. the inability to identify or describe one’s own emotions). Undergraduate students (N = 220) at a medium-sized private university completed online self-report measures of the VDT, affective empathy, cognitive empathy, and alexithymia. Results indicated that this mediation model was significant when examining the indirect effects of vulnerable narcissism and secondary psychopathy on affective empathy, and borderline personality disorder on both cognitive and affective empathy. These findings suggest potential treatment targets for individuals with traits of the VDT.