This research explores the Dark Triad traits in 18 cultures from Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. We examined the relationships among Dark Triad traits, as measured by the SD3, with gender, age, social status, and two personality models, HEXACO and Zuckerman’s alternative five factor model (AFFM). There were 10,298 participants (5,410 women and 4,888 men) with a mean age of 40.31 (SD = 17.32) years old. Between 6% and 16% of the variance in the Dark Triad traits was accounted by culture. Men scored higher than women on all three traits in most cultures, but gender differences were generally larger in European countries. The relationship between the Dark Triad traits dimensions and age is negative, but the largest effect size is small (Psychopathy; η2 = .018). Psychopathy is associated with low Social Position, and Narcissism with high Social Position. In regard to Personality traits, Narcissism is positively related to Extraversion, and Psychopathy is negatively related to Conscientiousness for the HEXACO, and Narcissism is positively related to Activity and Sensation Seeking, and Machiavellianism and Psychopathy are positively related to Aggressiveness and Sensation Seeking for the AFFM.
AlujaA.BlanchA.GarcíaL. F.GarcíaO.EscorialS. (2012). Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire as a predictor of MCMI-III personality disorder scales: The role of facets. Personality and Mental Health, 6, 217–227. https://doi.org/10.1002/pmh.1185
2.
AlujaA.EscorialS.GarcíaL. F.GarcíaÓ.BlanchA.ZuckermanM. (2013). Reanalysis of Eysenck’s, Gray’s, and Zuckerman’s structural trait models based on a new measure: The Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja Personality Questionnaire (ZKA-PQ). Personality and Individual Differences, 54, 192–196. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.08.030
3.
AlujaA.KuhlmanM.ZuckermanM. (2010). Development of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja personality questionnaire (ZKA-PQ): A factor/facet version of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman personality questionnaire (ZKPQ). Journal of Personality Assessment, 92, 416–431. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2010.497406
4.
AlujaA.LucasI.BlanchA.GarcíaO.GarcíaL. F. (2018). The Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire shortened form (ZKA-PQ/SF). Personality and Individual Differences, 134, 174–181. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.06.015
5.
AlujaA.RossierJ.OumarB.GarcíaL. F.BellajT.OstendorfF.RuchW.WangW.KöviZ.ŚcigałaD.ČekrlijaĐ.StiversA. W.Di BlasL.ValdiviaM.Ben JemaaS.AtitsogbeK. A.HansenneM.GlicksohnJ. (2020). Multicultural validation of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja personality Questionnaire shortened form (ZKA-PQ/SF) across 18 countries. Assessment, 27, 728–748. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191119831770
6.
AshtonM.LeeK. (2009). The HEXACO-60: A short measure of the major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91, 340–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890902935878
7.
AtitsogbeK. A.HansenneM.PariP.RossierJ. (2020). Normal personality, the dark triad, proactive attitude and perceived employability: A cross-cultural study in Belgium, Switzerland and Togo. Psychologica Belgica, 60, 217–235. https://doi.org/10.5334/pb.520
8.
BlanchA.AlujaA. (2016). Text mining a self-report back-translation. Psychological Assessment, 28, 750–764. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000213
BucherL.TranU. S.PrinzG. M.BurgardT.BosnjakM.VoracekM. (2020). Keeping meta-analyses alive and well: Using Psych Open CAMA to implement a community-augmented meta-analysis on the Dark Triad of personality. Leibniz Institut für Psychologische Information und Dokumentation (ZPID). https://doi.org/10.23668/PSYCHARCHIVES.2752
CaninoG.PolanczykG.BauermeisterJ. J.RohdeL. A.FrickP. J. (2010). Does the prevalence of CD and ODD vary across cultures?Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 45, 695–704. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-010-0242-y
13.
CoffmanD. L.MacCallumR. C. (2005). Using parcels to convert path analysis models into latent variable models. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 40, 235–259. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327906mbr4002_4
14.
CohenJ. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. Academic Press.
15.
CohenP.ChenH.GordonK.JohnsonJ.BrookJ.KasenS. (2008). Socioeconomic background and the developmental course of schizotypal and borderline personality disorder symptoms. Development and Psychopathology, 20, 633–650. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095457940800031X
16.
ComptonW. M.ConwayK. P.StinsonF. S.ColliverJ. D.GrantB. F. (2005). Prevalence, correlates, and comorbidity of DSM-IV antisocial personality syndromes and alcohol and specific drug use disorders in the United States: Results from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, 66, 677–685. https://doi.org/10.4088/JCP.v66n0602
17.
CookeD. J. (1996). Psychopathic personality in different cultures. What do we know? What do we need to find out?Journal of Personality Disorders, 10, 23–40. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.1996.10.1.23
18.
CookeD. J.MichieC. (1999). Psychopathy across cultures: North America and Scotland compared. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 108, 58–68. https://doi.org/10.1037/0021-843X.108.1.58
19.
DeShongH. L.GrantD. M.Mullins-SweattS. N. (2015). Comparing models of counterproductive workplace behaviors: The Five-Factor Model and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 74, 55–60. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.10.001
20.
de VriesY. A.Ten HaveM.de GraafR.van DorsselaerS.de RuiterN. M. P.de JongeP. (2020). The relationship between mental disorders and actual and desired subjective social status. Epidemiology and Psychiatric Sciences, 29, e83. https://doi.org/10.1017/S2045796019000805
21.
DinićB. M.WertagA.SokolovskaV.TomaševićA. (2021). The good, the bad, and the ugly: Revisiting the Dark Core. Current Psychology. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-021-01829-x
22.
ErreygersG. (2013). A dual Atkinson measure of socioeconomic inequality of health. Health Economics, 22, 466–479. https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.2820
23.
EysenckS. B.EysenckH. J.BarrettP. (1985). A revised version of the psychoticism scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 6, 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(85)90026-1
24.
EysenckS. B. G.EysenckH. J. (1977). The place of impulsiveness in a dimensional system of personality description. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 16, 57–68. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8260.1977.tb01003.x
25.
FehrB.SamsomD.PaulhusD. L. (1992). The construct of Machiavellianism: Twenty years later. In SpielbergerC. D.ButcherJ. N. (Eds.), Advances in personality assessment (Vol. o1.9, pp. 77–116). Erlbaum.
26.
FerrandoP. J.Lorenzo-SevaU. (2017). Program FACTOR at 10: Origins, development and future directions. Psicothema, 29(2), 236–240. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2016.304
27.
FosterJ. D.Keith CampbellW.TwengeJ. M. (2003). Individual differences in narcissism: Inflated self-views across the lifespan and around the world. Journal of Research in Personality, 37, 469–486. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0092-6566(03)00026-6
28.
FurnhamA.RichardsS. C.PaulhusD. L. (2013). The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 Year Review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7, 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12018
29.
GarcíaL. F.AlujaA.RossierJ.OstendorfF.GlicksohnJ.OumarB.BellajT.RuchW.WangW.KöviZ.ŚcigałaD.ČekrlijaĐ.StiversA. W.Di BlasL.ValdiviaM.Ben JemaaS.AtitsogbeK. A.HansenneM. (2021). Exploring the stability of HEXACO-60 structure and the association of gender, age, and social position with personality traits across 18 countries. Journal of Personality. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12664
30.
Gómez-LealR.Megías-RoblesA.Gutiérrez-CoboM. J.CabelloR.Fernández-AbascalE. G.Fernández-BerrocalP. (2019). Relationship between the Dark Triad and depressive symptoms. PeerJ, 7, e8120. https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.8120
HareR. D. (1982). Psychopathy and the personality dimensions of psychoticism, extraversion and neuroticism. Personality and Individual Differences, 3, 35–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(82)90072-1
33.
HareR. D. (2003). Manual for the Revised Psychopathy Checklist (2nd ed.). Multi-Health Systems.
34.
HodsonG.BookA.VisserB. A.VolkA. A.AshtonM. C.LeeK. (2018). Is the dark triad common factor distinct from low honesty-humility?Journal of Research in Personality, 73, 123–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2017.11.012
35.
HollingsheadA. B. (1957). Two Factor Index of Social Position. Privately printed.
36.
HollingsheadA. D. B.RedlichF. C. (1958). Social class and mental illness: A community study. John Wiley & Sons.
37.
HornJ. L. (1965). A rationale and test for the number of factors in factor analysis. Psychometrika, 30, 179–185. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf02289447
38.
JakobwitzS.EganV. (2006). The dark triad and normal personality traits. Personality and Individual Differences, 40(2), 331–339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.07.006
JonasonP. K.BaughmanH. M.CarterG. L.ParkerP. (2015). Dorian Gray without his portrait: Psychological, social, and physical health costs associated with the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 78, 5–13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.008
41.
JonasonP. K.FosterJ.OshioA.SitnikovaM.BirkasB.GouveiaV. (2017). Self-construals and the Dark Triad traits in six countries. Personality and Individual Differences, 113, 120–124.
42.
JonasonP. K.IchoA.IrelandK. (2016). Resources, harshness, and unpredictability: the socioeconomic conditions associated with the Dark Triad traits. Evolutionary Psychology, 14, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1177/1474704915623699
43.
JonasonP. K.LiN. P.CzarnaA. Z. (2013). Quick and dirty: Some psychosocial costs associated with the Dark Triad in three countries. Evolutionary Psychology, 11, 172–185. https://doi.org/10.1177/147470491301100116
44.
JonasonP. K.WebsterG. D. (2010). The Dirty Dozen: A concise measure of the Dark Triad. Psychological Assessment, 22, 420–432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019265
45.
JonasonP. K.Żemojtel-PiotrowskaM.PiotrowskiJ.SedikidesC.CampbellW. K.GebauerJ. E.MaltbyJ.AdamovicM.AdamsB. G.KadiyonoA. L.AtitsogbeK. A.BundhooH. Y.BălțătescuS.BilićS.BrulinJ. G.ChobthamkitP.Del Carmen DominguezA.Dragova-KolevaS.El-AstalS.YahiiaevI. (2020). Country-Level correlates of the dark triad traits in 49 countries. Journal of Personality, 88, 1252–1267. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12569
46.
JonesD. N.PaulhusD. L. (2011). The role of impulsivity in the Dark Triad of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 51, 679–682. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.04.011
47.
JonesD. N.PaulhusD. L. (2014). Introducing the short dark triad (SD3): A brief measure of dark personality traits. Assessment, 21(1), 28–41. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191113514105
48.
KivimäkiM.BattyG. D.PenttiJ.ShipleyM. J.SipiläP. N.NybergS. T.SuominenS. B.OksanenT.StenholmS.VirtanenM.MarmotM. G.Singh-ManouxA.BrunnerE. J.LindbohmJ. V.FerrieJ. E.VahteraJ. (2020). Association between socioeconomic status and the development of mental and physical health conditions in adulthood: A multi-cohort study. The Lancet Public Health, 5, e140–e149. https://doi.org/10.1016/s2468-2667(19)30248-8
49.
KrendlA. C.PescosolidoB. A. (2020). Countries and cultural differences in the stigma of mental illness: The East–West divide. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 51, 149–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022022119901297
50.
KrickA.TrespS.VatterM.LudwigA.WihlendaM.RettenbergerM. (2016). The relationships between the dark triad, the moral judgment level, and the students’ disciplinary choice: Self-selection, indoctrination, or both?Journal of Individual Differences, 37, 24–30. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000184
51.
LaajajR.MacoursK.Pinzon HernandezD. A.AriasO.GoslingS. D.PotterJ.Rubio-CodinaM.VakisR. (2019). Challenges to capture the big five personality traits in non-WEIRD populations. Science Advances, 5, eaaw5226. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aaw5226
52.
LeeK.AshtonM. C. (2005). Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism in the Five-Factor Model and the HEXACO model of personality structure. Personality and Individual Differences, 38, 1571–1582. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2004.09.016
53.
LeeK.AshtonM. C. (2014). The Dark Triad, the Big Five, and the HEXACO model. Personality and Individual Differences, 67, 2–5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.01.048
54.
LeeK.AshtonM. C. (2020). Sex differences in HEXACO personality characteristics across countries and ethnicities. Journal of Personality, 88, 1075–1090. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12551
55.
LittleT. D.CunninghamW. A.ShaharG.WidamanK. F. (2002). To parcel or not to parcel: Exploring the question, weighing the merits. Structural Equation Modeling A Multidisciplinary Journal, 9, 151–173. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15328007sem0902_1
56.
Lorenzo-SevaU.Ten BergeJ. M. F. (2006). Tucker’s congruence coefficient as a meaningful index of factor similarity. Methodology, 2(2), 57–64. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-2241.2.2.57
57.
MarshH. W.LüdtkeO.NagengastB.MorinA. J.Von DavierM. (2013). Why item parcels are (almost) never appropriate: Two wrongs do not make a right–camouflaging misspecification with item parcels in CFA models. Psychological Methods, 18(3), 257–284. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032773
58.
McCraeR. R.ZondermanA. B.CostaP. T.BondM. H.PaunonenS. V. (1996). Evaluating replicability of factors in the Revised NEO Personality Inventory: Confirmatory factor analysis versus Procrustes rotation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 70(3), 552–566. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.70.3.552
59.
MillsapR. E. (2011). Statistical approaches to measurement invariance. Routledge.
60.
MurisP.MerckelbachH.OtgaarH.MeijerE. (2017). The malevolent side of human nature: A meta-analysis and critical review of the literature on the dark triad (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12, 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616666070
61.
MuthénB.KaplanD. (1985). A comparison of some methodologies for the factor analysis of non-normal Likert variables. British Journal of Mathematical and Statistical Psychology, 38(2), 171–189. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8317.1985.tb00832.x
62.
O’BoyleE. H.ForsythD. R.BanksG. C.StoryP. A.WhiteC. D. (2015). A meta-analytic test of redundancy and relative importance of the dark triad and five-factor model of personality. Journal of Personality, 83, 644–664. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12126
63.
ParisJ.LisE. (2013). Can sociocultural and historical mechanisms influence the development of borderline personality disorder?Transcultural Psychiatry, 50(1), 140–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/1363461512468105
64.
PaulhusD. L.WilliamsK. M. (2002). The dark triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36, 556–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0092-6566(02)00505-6
PiffP. K. (2014). Wealth and the inflated self: Class, entitlement, and narcissism. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 40, 34–43. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213501699
67.
QuonE. C.McGrathJ. J. (2014). Subjective socioeconomic status and adolescent health: A meta-analysis. Health Psychology, 33, 433–447. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0033716
68.
QureshiC.HarrisE.AtkinsonB. E. (2016). Relationships between age of females and attraction to the Dark Triad personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 95, 200–203. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.02.047
69.
ReissF.MeyroseA. K.OttoC.LampertT.KlasenF.Ravens-SiebererU. (2019). Socioeconomic status, stressful life situations and mental health problems in children and adolescents: Results of the German BELLA cohort-study. PLoS One, 14, e0213700. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0213700
70.
RogozaR.CieciuchJ. (2020). Dark Triad traits and their structure: An empirical approach. Current Psychology, 39, 1287–1302. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9834-6
71.
RogozaR.Żemojtel-PiotrowskaM.JonasonP. K.PiotrowskiJ.CampbellK. W.GebauerJ.WlodarczykA. (2021). Structure of Dark Triad Dirty Dozen across eight world regions. Assessment, 28(4), 1125–1135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120922611
72.
RossierJ.AlujaA.BlanchA.BarryO.HansenneM.CarvalhoA. F.ValdiviaM.WangW.DesrichardO.HyphantisT.SuranyiZ.GlicksohnJ.De PascalisV.León–MayerE.PiskunovA.StiversA.MorizotJ.OstendorfF.ČekrlijaĐ.KaragonlarG. (2016). Cross–cultural Generalizability of the Alternative Five–factor Model Using the Zuckerman–Kuhlman–Aluja personality questionnaire. European Journal of Personality, 30, 139–157. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2045
73.
RossierJ.DuarteM. E. (2019). Testing and assessment in an international context: Cross- and multi-cultural issues. In AthanasouJ.PereraH. (Eds.), International handbook of career guidance (pp. 613–637). Springer.
74.
RossierJ.HansenneM.BaudinN.MorizotJ. (2012). Zuckerman’s revised Alternative Five-Factor Model: Validation of the Zuckerman-Kuhlman-Aluja Personality Questionnaire in four French-speaking countries. Journal of Personality Assessment, 94(4), 358–365. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2012.657024
75.
RossierJ.OuedraogoA.DahourouD. (2017). Personality structure and assessment in French-speaking African Cultures. In ChurchA. T. (Ed.), The Praeger handbook of personality across cultures (Vol. 1, pp. 73–103). Praeger Publisher.
76.
RossierJ.RigozziC.; Personality Across Culture Research Group. (2008). Personality disorders and the Five-Factor Model among French speakers in Africa and Europe. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry, 53, 534–544. https://doi.org/10.1177/070674370805300808
77.
SeveranceL.Bui-WrzosinskaL.GelfandM. J.LyonsS.NowakA.BorkowskiW.SoomroN.SoomroN.RafaeliA.Efrat TreisterD.LinC. C.YamaguchiS. (2013). The psychological structure of aggression across cultures. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 34, 835–865. https://doi.org/10.1002/job.1873
78.
ThalmayerA. G.RossierJ. (2019). Agreeableness, antagonism, and mental health across cultures. In MillerJ. D.LynamD. R. (Eds.), The handbook of antagonism: Conceptualizations, assessment, consequences, and treatment of the low end of agreeableness (pp. 97–111). Academic Press.
79.
TimmermanM. E.Lorenzo-SevaU. (2011). Dimensionality assessment of ordered polytomous items with parallel analysis. Psychological Methods, 16, 209–220. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0023353
80.
TorgersenS.KringlenE.CramerV. (2001). The prevalence of personality disorders in a community sample. Archives of General Psychiatry, 58, 590–596. https://doi.org/10.1001/archpsyc.58.6.590
81.
TurnerC. F.MartinezD. C. (1977). Socioeconomic achievement and the Machiavellian personality. Sociometry, 40, 325–336. https://doi.org/10.2307/3033481
82.
TyagiP.RangaB. S. (2018). An examination of the correlation between socioeconomic status and mental health. International Journal of Management IT and Engineering, 8, 252–262.
83.
VernonP. A.VillaniV. C.VickersL. C.HarrisJ. A. (2008). A behavioral genetic investigation of the Dark Triad and the Big 5. Personality and Individual Differences, 44, 445–452. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2007.09.007
84.
VizeC. E.CollisonK. L.MillerJ. D.LynamD. R. (2018a). Examining the effects of controlling for shared variance among the Dark Triad Using Meta–Analytic Structural Equation Modelling. European Journal of Personality, 32, 46–61. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.2137
85.
VizeC. E.CollisonK. L.MillerJ. D.LynamD. R. (2020). The “core” of the dark triad: A test of competing hypotheses. Personality Disorders Theory Research and Treatment, 11, 91–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000386
86.
VizeC. E.LynamD. R.CollisonK. L.MillerJ. D. (2018). Differences among dark triad components: A meta-analytic investigation. Personality Disorders Theory Research and Treatment, 9, 101–111. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000222
87.
WalshZ.SheaM. T.YenS.AnsellE. B.GriloC. M.McGlashanT. H.StoutR. L.BenderD. S.SkodolA. E.SanislowC. A.MoreyL. C.GundersonJ. G. (2013). Socioeconomic-status and mental health in a personality disorder sample: The importance of neighbourhood factors. Journal of Personality Disorders, 27, 820–831. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2012_26_061
88.
WattsA. L.WaldmanI. D.SmithS. F.PooreH. E.LilienfeldS. O. (2017). The nature and correlates of the Dark Triad: The answers depend on the questions. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126, 951–968. https://doi.org/10.1037/abn0000296
89.
WelzelC.BrunkertL.KruseS.InglehartR. F. (2021). Non-invariance? An overstated problem with misconceived causes. Sociological Methods & Research. Advanced online publication. https://doi.org/10.1177/0049124121995521
90.
WłodarskaK. A.ZyskowskaE.TerebusM. K.RogozaR. (2021). The Dark Triad and BIS/BAS: A meta-analysis. Current Psychology, 40, 5349–5357. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00467-8
91.
ZuckermanM.GlicksohnJ. (2016). Hans Eysenck’s personality model and the constructs of sensation seeking and impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences, 103, 48–52. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.04.003
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
