Dark Triad and Parenting Styles: Mediating Effect of Beliefs on Physical Punishment

The mental health of children/adolescents is closely related to family functioning. However, there are factors that impair family functioning, such as parental psychopathology, parenting styles, and beliefs about physical punishment, which may require intervention by psychology and psychiatry. Given the lack of literature, the main objectives of this research are: to explore the association between parenting styles and the personality traits that constitute the Dark Triad, to analyze the association between beliefs about physical punishment and the personality traits that make up the Dark Triad, and to test the mediating effect of beliefs about physical punishment between the traits of the Dark Triad and parenting styles. The sample consisted of 290 parents of school-age children/adolescents between 7 and 16 years old, consisting of 231 female and 59 male participants. The main results suggest that Machiavellianism and narcissism are positively associated with authoritarian and permissive parenting styles and psychopathy with authoritarian; personality traits are associated with beliefs about physical punishment, and beliefs about physical punishment influence the relationship between the Dark Triad and parenting styles. In short, parental psychopathology seems to have an influence on the way parents educate their children and on their beliefs about physical punishment.