Machiavellianism and sexual behavior: Motivations, deception and infidelity

The relationship between parental behavior and the reproductive strategy of daughter is mediated by the development of machiavellianism personality

Females who receive harsh, rejective, and inconsistent nurturing behavior from parents, are predicted to adopt mating strategies, such as short-term and unstable pair bonds with males. The speculation that, the rejective behavior a female receives during the early days, and their short-term mating strategy is mediated by the development of Machiavellianism personality, is not well confirmed. In this study, we investigated the relationship between parenting behavior, experienced by female college students (n = 168) in their early days, Machiavellianism personality, and behavior related to short-term reproductive strategy. The results revealed that, both maternal rejective behavior received by women in their childhood and Machiavellianism, have a relationship with the number of males that the female has ever romantically involved. Moreover, the mediation effect of Machiavellianism between maternal rejection in participants' childhood, and the number of males romantically involved, was marginally significant. This suggests that girls rejected by their mothers developed Machiavellianism. Consequently, this results in unstable female pair-bonding with the males.

Struggling or Liberating? The Effects of Machiavellianism on Break-Up Distress

Negative emotions caused by break-up are the key work of university students' psychological intervention. It is important to explore the specific factors of break-up distress for university students' psychological intervention. Therefore, we investigated 869 university students to examine the effect of Machiavellianism and psychological capital on break-up distress, as well as its gender difference. The results indicated that high Machiavellians experience more break-up distress. Moreover, through structural equation models, we found that as for female university students, psychological capital mediated the relationship between Machiavellianism and break-up distress. However, as for male university students, the mediation effect was not significant. It means that for female university students, psychological capital acted as the mechanism to connect Machiavellianism and break-up distress.

Why Humans Have Sex: Development and Psychometric Assessment of a Short-Form Version of the YSEX? Instrument

Research has documented 237 distinct reasons for engaging in sex, which have been clustered into the 141-item, 13 subscale YSEX? instrument. Although the YSEX? has impressive psychometric properties, the required completion time is a barrier to its use in time-constrained contexts. The current studies develop and validate a short-form version of the instrument. The new 28-item, 14 subscale YSEX?-SF demonstrates acceptable model fit and good internal-reliability, with evidence for cross-form and construct validity. The YSEX?-SF maintains the original instrument's sound psychometric properties with a significantly shorter completion time, which may facilitate the study of sexual motivation.

Propriedades Psicométricas da Escala de Intenções Frente à Infidelidade (EII)

Resumo O presente estudo objetivou adaptar ao contexto brasileiro a Escala de Intenções frente à Infidelidade (EII), conhecendo seus parâmetros psicométricos. Realizou-se dois estudos com pessoas que indicaram estar em um relacionamento amoroso. No Estudo 1 participaram 161 pessoas (idade média = 24,9), que responderam a EII e perguntas demográficas. Os resultados indicaram a unifatorialidade desta escala (α = 0,85), cujos itens mostraram-se discriminativos (amplitude do theta variou de -0,5 a 3,0). No Estudo 2 participaram 236 pessoas (média de idade = 25,5), que responderam os mesmos instrumentos. Os resultados apoiaram a estrutura unifatorial (e.g., CFI = 0,95 e TLI = 0,93), que se mostrou invariante quanto ao sexo (ΔCFI e ΔRMSEA < 0,01). Concluindo, os achados apoiaram a adequação dos itens da EII, como também indicaram evidências de sua validade fatorial e consistência interna, favorecendo que possa ser utilizada em pesquisas que buscam conhecer os correlatos da infidelidade.

Machiavellianism, Relationship Satisfaction, and Romantic Relationship Quality

Machiavellianism is characterised by a manipulative interpersonal style, willingness to exploit others, and a preference for emotionally detached relationships. The present studies investigate the extent to which Machiavellianism influences relationship satisfaction and romantic relationship quality. In Study 1, 194 heterosexual partnered women completed Machiavellianism and Relationship Satisfaction measures. Women with higher levels of Machiavellianism reported lower levels of relationship satisfaction. In Study 2, 132 heterosexual partnered women completed Machiavellianism, Trust, Commitment, Control, and Emotional Abuse scales. Women with higher levels of Machiavellianism perceived their partners to be less dependable, reported less faith in their partners, and were less willing to persist with the relationship than those with low levels of Machiavellianism. With regards to negative behavior, Machiavellianism predicted each form of control and emotional abuse investigated, such that those with high levels of Machiavellianism were more likely to engage in controlling behavior and emotional abuse. Findings have important implications for the prediction of romantic relationship quality and in particular for negative behavior such as control and abuse.