Short CommunicationOn love and darkness: The Dark Triad and mate retention behaviors in a non-Western culture

•We examined the Dark Triad and mate retention behaviors in Iran.•Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are positively associated with mate retention.•Machiavellianism is the best predictor of mate retention behaviors.

Researchers have been showing growing interest in the relationship between personality and mate retentions behaviors. There is evidence that the Dark Triad of personality (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) may be associated with mate retention behavior in romantic relationships. Yet, most of the mentioned studies have been conducted in Western samples. The present study aimed to examine the relationship between the Dark Triad and mate retention behaviors in Iranian married individuals. Descriptive statistics and evaluation of sex differences suggested that Iranian men scored significantly higher on domains of mate retention. Women scored higher on narcissism. Correlational analyses indicated that Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy are positively correlated with Benefit-Provisioning, Cost-Inflicting, and overall mate retention. Therefore, individuals who score higher on the Dark Triad traits employ mate retention strategies to prevent dissolution of their marital relationships. The findings are clearly consistent with previous findings in Western cultures.