Parent-Child Correlates of Machiavellianism and Manipulative Behavior

Abstract

The primary findings of a study to establish certain relationships between 10-yr.-old children and their parents with respect to the Machiavellian (Mach) scales and the children's manipulative interpersonal behavior were: (1) the parents' scores on both the Mach IV and Mach V are, individually, unrelated to their children's Mach scores; (2) although various combinations of the Mach scales (category patterns) are inversely related for mothers to the children's Mach scores, there is no relationship between these two variables for fathers; (3) these combinations for each parent, separately, are inversely related to the children's success at manipulative behavior.