Affluenza: Scale Construction and Validation, Association with Dark Personality Traits, and Potential Role in Perpetration of White Collar Crime
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Authors
Karandikar, Sampada
Issue Date
2025
Type
Dissertation
Language
en_US
Keywords
Affluenza , Dark Triad , narcissism , psychopathy , socioeconomic status , white collar crime
Alternative Title
Abstract
Affluenza, the confluence of affluence and influenza, refers to heightened entitlement among the economically wealthy leading them to fulfill their needs through harmful means without caring about the consequences to others as a result of these methods. Although an older concept, Affluenza has gained popularity through the past decade owing to it being used as a defense in courts to gain leniency for wealthy perpetrators of crimes. However, not much is empirically known about the construct outside of consumerism and materialism literature, particularly in context of the role of economic privilege in perpetrating crime and harming others. While some measures for Affluenza exist within consumerism literature, they have several methodological issues, and do not capture the full breadth of the construct. Thus, the first aim of this dissertation was to broaden the conceptualization of Affluenza and construct a valid and reliable measure to assess this variable. Study 1 therefore focused on constructing and validating an Affluenza scale. I developed preliminary items for Affluenza using literature review, expert inputs, and interviews, and conducted exploratory factor analysis (N = 181) to understand the structure of the Affluenza scale. Further, this dissertation aimed to understand the contexts in which Affluenza manifests, as not everyone who is economically privileged will experience Affluenza. Thus, in Study 2, I first undertook confirmatory factor analysis (N = 498) to further verify the structure of the developed Affluenza measure. I then investigated the moderating role of the Dark Triad traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy between Affluenza and high socioeconomic status. It was found that high socioeconomic status predicts Affluenza irrespective of the presence of the Dark Triad traits. Finally, this dissertation aimed to explore the criminality aspect of Affluenza, and whether it actually leads people from high socioeconomic statuses to perpetrate crime. Thus, given the financial nature of Affluenza, the third aim of this study was to explore the potential role of Affluenza within perpetration of white collar crime. Thus, in Study 3 (N = 213), I investigated and found that Affluenza partially mediated the relationship between high socioeconomic status and perpetration of white collar crime. Further, I also found that moderate and high levels of Machiavellianism and narcissism, and high level of psychopathy moderated the effects of high socioeconomic status on white collar crime via Affluenza. The implications of these results are discussed. Keywords: Affluenza; white collar crime; fraud; Dark Triad; psychopathy; narcissism; Machiavellianism; socioeconomic status.