Abstract
Introduction
Moderate emotion reactivity in the face of daily stress is of positive significance regarding individuals’ psychological well-being and environmental adaptation. The study on intergenerational transmission of Dark Triad and emotion reactivity has confirmed the existence of higher levels of Dark Triad and emotion reactivity in college students in the Chinese sample, which may provide a reference for future related studies.
Purpose
The study examined the intergenerational transmission effects of Dark Triad and Emotion Reactivity in families. And based on this, it further analyzed the mediating role of parental emotion reactivity and children’s Dark Triad in the influence of parental Dark Triad on children’s emotion reactivity.
Methods
The questionnaire was administered to 486 families inclusive of fathers, mothers, and children utilizing the Emotion Reactivity Scale (ERS) and the Dirty Dozen (DD).
Results
1) The intergenerational transmission was presented in the three Dark Triad traits and emotion reactivity. 2) The level of Dark Triad and emotion reactivity of children was remarkably higher than that of their parents. 3) The Dark Triad scores of males were considerably higher than those of females, while there were no significant differences in the scores of emotion reactivity between them. 4) The actor and partner effects of Dark Triad and emotion reactivity between father and mother were established. 5) Parental emotion reactivity and children’s Dark Triad exerted mediating effects on the impact of parental Dark Triad on children’s emotion reactivity.
Conclusion
The effect of parental three Dark Triad on their children’s emotion reactivity as well as its mediation mechanism were examined respectively by the present study in the light of APIM and intergenerational transmission analysis. It was concluded that the findings carried both theoretical and reference value for developing moderate emotion reactive ability toward college students.
Ethical Statement
This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Chinese Medicine (approval number: 2019YFC1709901). The study complies with the Helsinki Declaration.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank all participants and data collectors. Of particular appreciation is the active cooperation of the college students and their parents, whose provision of the survey data is essential for the successful conduct of this study.
Disclosure
The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.