The Pathway from Childhood Trauma to Criminal Thinking among Offenders on Probation: The Mediating Role of the Dark Triad

Published: 16 September 2025| Version 1 | DOI: 10.17632/tfj674hdpk.1
Contributor:
Zeki Karataş

Description

Descriptive findings indicated a high prevalence of trauma in the sample, with 44.9% of participants reporting four or more ACEs. The SEM results revealed that relational childhood traumas did not directly predict criminal thinking but exerted a significant indirect effect through the Dark Triad personality traits (full mediation). When all three Dark Triad traits were included in the model simultaneously, only narcissism emerged as a significant and powerful predictor of criminal thinking (β = .807). The findings suggest a developmental pathway wherein relational childhood trauma fosters the development of narcissistic and antagonistic personality traits, which in turn provide a foundation for criminal thinking.

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Institutions

  • Recep Tayyip Erdogan Universitesi

Categories

Probation

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