Unfavorable prison social climate links dark tetrad traits with self-reported institutional misconduct

Abstract

The Dark Tetrad traits (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism) are associated with various adverse and destructive social outcomes. However, the data about the functioning of dark personalities in institutional settings are relatively scarce. In the present research we analyzed the links between Dark Tetrad traits, the prison social climate (measured by prisoners' quality of life) and institutional misconduct (assessed by the number of disciplinary corrections, special measures, solitary confinements, and control measures) in a sample of Serbian convicts (N = 582). Our main hypothesis was that negative prison social climate mediates the link between Dark Tetrad and institutional misconduct. Correlation and regression analysis showed negative association between the Dark Tetrad and prison social climate, together with negative links between social climate and institutional misconduct; associations between Tetrad traits and misconduct were positive. The best predictor of misconduct was the prison social climate but Machiavellianism and sadism independently contributed to the prediction as well. Finally, the structural model showed that negative prison social climate represents a mediator in the links between Machiavellianism, sadism and institutional misconduct. Therefore, our main hypothesis was confirmed, but only for Machiavellianism and sadism as the Dark Tetrad traits. The current data reveal novel socially-aversive outcomes of the Dark Tetrad traits and depict personality and contextual factors that can be practically important for enabling the better functioning of convicts in the prison wards.