Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction and Frustration, Dark Personality Tetrad, Gender Role Beliefs and Violent Extremism among University Students

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the association between basic psychological need satisfaction and frustration, dark personality tetrad, gender role beliefs, and violent extremism among university students. Data was gathered from adults of age range (18 years – 26 years) from academic institutes of the twin cities, Rawalpindi and Islamabad (n = 213) using a convenient sampling technique. To study and measure the relationship of study variables, four respective tools were used. Basic Psychological Need Satisfaction & Frustration Scale (BPNSF), The Short Dark Tetrad (SD4), Gender Role Beliefs Scale (GRBS), and Violent Extremism Scale (VE). Findings showed that basic psychological needs frustration, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and sadism were found to be positively associated with violent extremism. On the contrary, gender role beliefs were negatively correlated with extremism. Basic psychological needs frustration, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism were found to be positive predictors of violent extremism. Conversely, gender role beliefs were negative predictors of violent extremism. The current study has implications in educational settings and future research on the mitigation of violent behavior. Additionally, limitations along with implications as well as recommendations for future research were also discussed.