IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v18y2021i14p7653-d596795.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Revenge in Couple Relationships and Their Relation to the Dark Triad

Author

Listed:
  • Miguel Clemente

    (Department of Psychology, Research Group in Criminology, Legal Psychology and Penal Justice, Universidade da Coruna, 15071 A Coruna, Spain)

  • Pablo Espinosa

    (Department of Psychology, Research Group in Criminology, Legal Psychology and Penal Justice, Universidade da Coruna, 15071 A Coruna, Spain)

Abstract

Background: This research examines how, when a romantic partner commits a perceived transgression that leads to couple break up, vengeful reactions are predicted by the type of transgression and the Dark Triad of personality. Methods: An incidental sample of 2142 participants, half male and half female aged 18 to 70, completed a questionnaire developed by the authors to assess how they had reacted after being the perceived victims of a transgression committed by their partner and a measure of the Dark Triad. Results: Results show half of the people who feel as though they are victims of a partner transgression show revenge reactions. These reactions are more emotional than rational and do not usually anticipate their consequences or success. Moreover, revenge is related primarily to psychopathy and to a lesser extent to Machiavellianism. Psychopathy is the best predictor for revenge thoughts and actions, whereas narcissism does not predict revenge when controlling for other dark traits. Conclusions: This study contributes to the explanation of revenge reactions in couple relationships in relation to the type of transgression perceived and the Dark Triad. Conflicts that arise out of revenge may have long-lasting consequences for both the perceived aggressor and victim, and our results may be useful for assessing risks, monitoring, and preventing negative consequences for partners or ex-partners.

Suggested Citation

  • Miguel Clemente & Pablo Espinosa, 2021. "Revenge in Couple Relationships and Their Relation to the Dark Triad," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(14), pages 1-12, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7653-:d:596795
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7653/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/14/7653/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Miguel Clemente & Dolores Padilla-Racero & Pablo Espinosa, 2020. "The Dark Triad and the Detection of Parental Judicial Manipulators. Development of a Judicial Manipulation Scale," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-12, April.
    2. Pauline Grosjean, 2014. "A History Of Violence: The Culture Of Honor And Homicide In The Us South," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 12(5), pages 1285-1316, October.
    3. Clemente, Miguel & Padilla-Racero, Dolores, 2021. "Obey the justice system or protect children? The moral dilemma posed by false parental alienation syndrome," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    4. Miguel Clemente & Dolores Padilla-Racero & Pablo Espinosa, 2019. "Revenge among Parents Who Have Broken up Their Relationship through Family Law Courts: Its Dimensions and Measurement Proposal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    5. Fatima Firdevs Adam Karduz & Hakan Saricam, 2018. "The Relationships between Positivity, Forgiveness, Happiness, and Revenge," Revista romaneasca pentru educatie multidimensionala - Journal for Multidimensional Education, Editura Lumen, Department of Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chiara Lucifora & Gabriella Martino & Anna Curcuruto & Mohammad Ali Salehinejad & Carmelo Mario Vicario, 2021. "How Self-Control Predicts Moral Decision Making: An Exploratory Study on Healthy Participants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(7), pages 1-9, April.
    2. Miguel Clemente & Dolores Padilla-Racero & Pablo Espinosa, 2019. "Revenge among Parents Who Have Broken up Their Relationship through Family Law Courts: Its Dimensions and Measurement Proposal," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-12, December.
    3. Sandra Sequeira & Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2020. "Immigrants and the Making of America," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 87(1), pages 382-419.
    4. Sara Lowes & Etienne Le Rossignol, 2022. "Ancestral Livelihoods and Moral Universalism: Evidence from Transhumant Pastoralist Societies," Working Papers hal-04083412, HAL.
    5. von Carnap-Bornheim, Tillmann, 2016. "Irrigation as a Determinant of Social Capital in India: A Large-Scale Survey Analysis," MPRA Paper 69270, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Ana Tur-Prats, 2019. "Family Types and Intimate Partner Violence: A Historical Perspective," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(5), pages 878-891, December.
    7. Verdier, Thierry & Bisin, Alberto, 2017. "On the Joint Evolution of Culture and Institutions," CEPR Discussion Papers 12000, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    8. Gaia Narciso & Battista Severgnini, 2016. "The Deep Roots of Rebellion: Evidence from the Irish Revolution," Trinity Economics Papers tep2216, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    9. Armin Falk & Anke Becker & Thomas Dohmen & Benjamin Enke & David Huffman & Uwe Sunde, 2018. "Global Evidence on Economic Preferences," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 133(4), pages 1645-1692.
    10. Stelios Michalopoulos & Melanie Meng Xue, 2021. "Folklore," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 136(4), pages 1993-2046.
    11. Friedman-Sokuler, Naomi & Senik, Claudia, 2020. "From Pink-Collar to Lab Coat: Cultural Persistence and Diffusion of Socialist Gender Norms," IZA Discussion Papers 13385, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. repec:hal:wpspec:info:hdl:2441/76npisrda99aop75h6fmi4vduu is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Melissa Dell & Nathan Lane & Pablo Querubin, 2018. "The Historical State, Local Collective Action, and Economic Development in Vietnam," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 86(6), pages 2083-2121, November.
    14. Xiong, Hao & Hou, Fei & Li, Hanwen & Wang, Huabing, 2020. "Does rice farming shape audit quality: Evidence from signing auditors level analysis," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 403-420.
    15. Cagé, Julia & Rueda, Valeria, 2020. "Sex and the mission: the conflicting effects of early Christian missions on HIV in sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of Demographic Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 86(3), pages 213-257, September.
    16. Castañeda Dower, Paul & Markevich, Andrei, 2014. "A history of resistance to privatization in Russia," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(4), pages 855-873.
    17. Baranov, Victoria & de Haas, Ralph & Grosjean, Pauline, 2018. "Men. Roots and Consequences of Masculinity Norms," Other publications TiSEM 6fa57f55-71bb-42c4-8cc4-d, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Stelios Michalopoulos & Louis Putterman & David N Weil, 2019. "The Influence of Ancestral Lifeways on Individual Economic Outcomes in Sub-Saharan Africa," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(4), pages 1186-1231.
    19. Jacob Moscona & Nathan Nunn & James A. Robinson, 2020. "Segmentary Lineage Organization and Conflict in Sub‐Saharan Africa," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(5), pages 1999-2036, September.
    20. Vinicius V. Zanchi & Philipp Ehrl & Daniel T. G. N. Maciel, 2021. "Direct and Indirect Effects of Individualism and Institutions on Homicides," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 153(3), pages 1167-1195, February.
    21. Ciccarelli, Carlo & Dalmazzo, Alberto & Razzolini, Tiziano, 2021. "Sicilian Sulphur and Mafia: Resources, Working Conditions and the Practice of Violence," IZA Discussion Papers 14959, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:14:p:7653-:d:596795. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.