The Influence of Dark Triad Personality Traits and Family Climate on Aggressive Behaviour among Juvenile Offenders: A Psycho-Social Investigation

Abstract

One of the most serious problems of the juvenile delinquency systems, the mental health field, and correctional facilities in the world is aggressive behaviour among juvenile offenders. Although maladaptive personality traits and dysfunctional family environments have been established as key factors in aggression, few studies have investigated the interaction of Dark Triad personality traits and family climate on aggressive behaviour in juvenile delinquents. Knowing these relationships can be crucial to the design of effective rehabilitation and intervention programs for young offenders and to the reduction of aggression and recidivism. The current study sets out to explore the relationship between Dark Triad personality traits (Machiavellianism, Narcissism and Psychopathy) and family climate and aggressive behaviour among juvenile offenders. In particular, the study examines the direct impact of the DT on aggression and explores the mediating role of family climate in these relationships.A quantitative research approach of cross-sectional design will be used. Standardised psychometric scales such as the Short Dark Triad Scale (SD3), Family Environment Scale (FES) and Buss–Perry Aggression Questionnaire (BPAQ) will be used to gather data from around 100 youth who are detained in youth observation homes and juvenile rehabilitation centres. Stratified random sampling will be employed to ensure good representation of participants. The proposed relationships between the study variables and the family climate as a mediator will be analysed using the analysis technique of descriptive statistics, reliability analysis, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA), and Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) using AMOS/SmartPLS. The study is likely to find that there are important positive correlations between juvenile offenders' Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy and aggressive behaviour. The family environment is expected to show a strong negative correlation with aggression, suggesting that a supportive family environment leads to a decrease in the aggressive tendencies of children. Moreover, family climate is hypothesised to partially mediate the link between DDT and aggressive behaviour, indicating that negative family experiences could exacerbate the effect of negative personality profiles on aggression. The study has suggested a holistic psycho-social framework for understanding the aggressive behaviour of juvenile offenders, which includes the dual role of personality traits and family environmental factors. The results will be useful for the juvenile delinquency, personality psychology and criminology literature as they will provide a complete picture of youth aggression. The study also emphasises the need for family interventions and psychological assessment in juvenile rehabilitation programs for behavioural change and prevention of re-offending among youth.