title: Vulnerable Dark Triad Personality Facets Are Associated with Religious Fundamentalist Tendencies.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  This study explores the possibility that religious fundamentalism (RF) may be linked to deficits in personality structure, which is in contrast to the general assumption that religiosity and spirituality are positively related to mature personality development.
  
  
  METHODS
  To test this hypothesis, 327 (232 female) college students completed the Multidimensional Inventory for Religious/Spiritual Well-Being together with the Innsbrucker Religious Fundamentalism Scale. In addition, the 'vulnerable dark triad' of personality ('vulnerable narcissism', subscale of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory; 'secondary psychopathy', subscale of Levenson's Self-Report Psychopathy Scale; 'borderline personality', of the Borderline Personality Inventory) was assessed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In general, the relation between spirituality and healthy personality functioning was confirmed. In addition to greatly overlapping with 'general religiosity' (p < 0.001), RF was also relevantly predicted by narcissistic ('hiding the self') and borderline ('primitive defenses') personality facets (p < 0.05 for both).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Based on these preliminary data, we conclude that specific structural deficits in personality might lead to more rigorous variants of religious/spiritual beliefs such as RF. Further research in clinical surroundings as well as in religious extremist groups is recommended.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Psychology, Karl Franzens University, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: Human-Friedrich
authors.initials: HF
authors.lastname: Unterrainer
authors.forename: Johanna
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ruttinger
authors.forename: Andrew J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: Jeromy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Anglim
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: Hans-Peter
authors.initials: HP
authors.lastname: Kapfhammer
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D010553:Personality Development; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012067:Religion; D012307:Risk Factors; D057566:Self Report; D012928:Social Desirability; D029181:Spirituality; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology; D055815:Young Adult