The Pathway from Childhood Trauma to Criminal Thinking among Offenders on Probation: The Mediating Role of the Dark Triad

Descriptive findings indicated a high prevalence of trauma in the sample, with 44.9% of participants reporting four or more ACEs. The SEM results revealed that relational childhood traumas did not directly predict criminal thinking but exerted a significant indirect effect through the Dark Triad personality traits (full mediation). When all three Dark Triad traits were included in the model simultaneously, only narcissism emerged as a significant and powerful predictor of criminal thinking (β = .807). The findings suggest a developmental pathway wherein relational childhood trauma fosters the development of narcissistic and antagonistic personality traits, which in turn provide a foundation for criminal thinking.