ИСТИНА

The study aimed at discovering the link between the Dark Triad personality traits and romantic relationship strategies in different age groups. Sample consisted of 1124 participants aged 16 - 79 (M = 35.25; SD = 14.48) with 58.8 percent of women among them. By filling in the questionnaires, the respondents indicated those behavioral strategies they employed in romantic relationships during student years. There was a choice between four possible strategies: (1) short-term shallow relationships; (2) long-term but not very serious; relationships without the imminent prospects of marriage; (3) relationships thought eventually leading to marriage; (4) serious relationships with a person possessing qualities needed for marital life. The overall finding was that there is a strong link between the Dark Triad and the orientation toward short-term relations without strong commitment. Reports confirmed that respondents with high Dark Triad scores (both men and women) prefer short-term relationships. However, the situation significantly changes when we take into account the age of the respondents (below 30 years, from 30 to 49 years, after 50 years). Since the question formulated in the instruction referred to the student years, for the first group it concerned the actual relationships, while two other groups gave retrospective evaluations. If we consider the findings obtained for the younger age group, we see that both males and females with high Dark Triad scores choose all possible strategies – short-term as well as long-term ones. Yet in the 30+ age group, high Dark Triad scores indicated the general orientation toward short-term relations, while most people with low Dark Triad scores demonstrated their orientation toward long-term relations. Thus, the links between the Dark Triad traits and the preferred interpersonal strategies are not uniform but depend on whether people evaluate the actual behavior or give retrospective reports.