Associations between the triarchic traits and mental health symptoms: the role of coping styles as mediators.

Abstract

We investigated relationships between the triarchic model of psychopathy, coping styles, and externalizing and internalizing symptoms, and verified the mediating effect of coping styles. Participants were 957 adults responding to the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure, Inventory of depression and anxiety symptoms expanded version, and Crime and Analogous Behavior Scale. Data were analyzed using four path analyses to test our hypothesis, indicating each triarchic trait is differently associated with psychological symptoms and coping styles. We also observed the preference for some coping styles affecting the association between triarchic traits and psychological symptoms. Our findings suggest that coping styles affect only the associations between boldness*distress and boldness*fear, indicating that specific coping strategies can account for variations in distress and fear linked to boldness.