Childhood adversity and malevolent creativity in college students: Resilience and the Dark Triad as mediators

To explore the relationships among childhood adversity, malevolent creativity, resilience, and the Dark Triad personality traits, we conducted a survey with 1,319 college students. Respondents completed the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, the Malevolent Creativity Behavior Scale, the Short Dark Triad Scale, and the Connor–Davidson Resilience Scale. Results showed that childhood adversity was negatively correlated with resilience and positively correlated with malevolent creativity and the Dark Triad traits. Mediation analysis revealed no direct effect of childhood adversity on malevolent creativity. Instead, resilience and the Dark Triad acted as both independent and chain mediators of this relationship. Thus, by enhancing psychological resilience and decreasing the likelihood of developing maladaptive personality traits, educators can reduce the risk of malevolent creativity among individuals who have experienced childhood adversity.