Childhood Neglect, Light Triad Traits, Prosocial Tendencies And Malevolent Creativity among Emerging Adults

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between childhood neglect, light triad traits, prosocial tendencies, and malevolent creativity among emerging adults. A correlational research design was conducted, with a sample of N=460 emerging adults (n=142 men and n=313 women) aged 18-25 years (M=20.64, SD=1.83). Participants were selected from public and private institutes in Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and Abbottabad using non-probability purposive sampling. Self-report measures of short form of childhood trauma questionnaire (Bernstein et al., 2003), light triad scale (Kaufman et al., 2019), prosocial tendencies measure (Carlo & Randall‚ 2002), and malevolent creativity behavior scale (Hao et al., 2016) were used in assessing the research variables. The results of the pearson product-moment correlation indicated that childhood neglect negatively correlates with light triad traits and prosocial tendencies, while positively correlating with malevolent creativity. Light triad traits were correlated positively with prosocial tendencies and associated negatively with malevolent creativity. Prosocial tendencies also correlated negatively with malevolent creativity. The Pearson product-moment correlation analysis revealed significant relationships between demographic variables and malevolent creativity (hurting people, lying, and playing tricks). Gender was negatively correlated with malevolent creativity (hurting people, lying, and playing tricks), while participants' years of education negatively and family system and father’s employment status were positively associated with lying, a dimension of malevolent creativity. Additionally, both mother’s and father’s years of education were negatively associated with malevolent creativity, with the mother’s education impacting the dimensions of hurting people, lying, and playing tricks, and the father’s education affecting lying and playing tricks. The results of mediation analysis showed prosocial tendencies significantly mediated the relationship between childhood neglect and malevolent creativity. The results of moderation analysis showed that light triad traits significantly moderated the relationship between childhood neglect and malevolent creativity. One-way ANOVA indicated a significant differences between childhood neglect, light triad traits, prosocial tendencies, malevolent creativity and their subscales across birth order. Independent sample t-test revealed significant differences between childhood neglect, light triad traits, prosocial tendencies, malevolent creativity and their subscales among emerging adults across gender, family system and parental employment status. This study contributes to the expanding psychological literature and offers implications for future research in the field.