Abstract
Adolescence involves a profound number of changes in all domains of development. Among others, adolescence yields an enhanced awareness and responsibility toward the community, representing a critical age to develop prosocial behaviors. In this study, the mediation role of Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) was detected for the relationship between the dark triad and prosocial behavior based on altruism and equity. A total of 129 healthy late adolescents filled in the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen, measuring Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism; the Altruistic Action Scale, evaluating behaviors directed at helping others; the Equity Scale, assessing behaviors directed at equity in different forms; and the TEI Questionnaire-Short Form. Results showed that TEI mediated the negative effects of the three dark triad traits on both altruism and equity. This finding suggests that TEI, which relies on a set of dispositions (e.g., emotional management of others, social competence, and empathy), might reduce the malevolent effects of the dark triad on altruism and equitable behavior in late adolescence. This led to assume that intervention programs focused on improving emotional skills, also in late adolescence, can promote prosociality.
Highlights
Exploring what brings people to engage in prosocial actions is relevant for targeting the social crisis of our times
Spearman’s rho correlational analysis was computed to preliminarily evaluate the relationships involving the variables of interest, whereas to test the mediating role of Trait Emotional Intelligence (TEI) on the dark triad and prosocial behaviors, the PROCESS macro for SPSS was used
Considering altruism as the outcome, results showed that the indirect effects of Machiavellianism [b = −0.05, 95% CI (−0.1161, −0.0189)], psychoticism [b = −0.07, 95% CI (−0.1241, −0.0274)], and narcissism [b = −0.04, 95% CI (−0.0871, −0.0100)] on altruism through TEI were significant
Summary
Exploring what brings people to engage in prosocial actions is relevant for targeting the social crisis of our times. Late adolescence (18–22 years) depicts the passage to adulthood characterized by an enhanced civic involvement and responsibility toward the community that brings to a deeper understanding of the social and cultural settings in which people live (Zarrett and Eccles, 2006). According to Tapia-Fonllem et al (2013) framework, social sustainability lies in the concept of inclusiveness by embracing prosocial practices such as altruistic and equitable actions (Tapia-Fonllem et al, 2013). Altruism reflects a set of actions that benefit others at a personal cost (Kerr et al, 2004), while equity relies on actions guaranteeing a fair distribution of natural and social resources among people (CorralVerdugo et al, 2015). People vary in expressing their prosociality in daily life, personality
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