The traits of the dark triad (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) capture the individual differences in the aversive personality. The dark triad has shown significant relations with behaviors that affect people’s lives. One of the best-known instruments to assess the dark triad is the Dirty Dozen. However, controversy continues over the use of one general dark triad score or, conversely, three different scores. This study aimed to investigate the factor structure of the Dirty Dozen across eight global regions. There were 11,477 participants in 49 countries grouped into eight regions. Different factor structures were studied using confirmatory factor analyses. Both the three-dimensional models and the bifactor models (symmetrical or traditional and non-symmetrical or bifactor-[S – 1]) showed a good fit to the data. The bifactor-(S – 1) models (with psychopathy or Machiavellianism as the reference factors) show adequate fit to the data, supported by the coherence of the factorial loadings and the bifactor indices. Regarding measurement invariance for both models, configural, metric, and scalar invariance were satisfied. The results indicate that it is not clear whether a psychopathy or Machiavellianism reference factor predominates in the Dirty Dozen. For both models, templates are provided to obtain standardized scores for applied researchers in the eight studied world regions until future studies offer a greater amount of validity evidence for this instrument.
AckermanR. A.WittE. A.DonnellanM. B.TrzesniewskiK. H.RobinsR. W.KashyD. A. (2011). What does the narcissistic personality inventory really measure?Assessment, 18(1), 67–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191110382845
2.
BaderM.HartungJ.HilbigB. E.ZettlerI.MoshagenM.WilhelmO. (2021). Themes of the dark core of personality. Psychological Assessment, 33(6), 511–525. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0001006
3.
BaughmanH. M.DearingS.GiammarcoE.VernonP. A. (2012). Relationships between bullying behaviours and the Dark Triad: A study with adults. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(5), 571–575. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2011.11.020
4.
Bonfá-AraujoB.SimõesN. C.ZuchettoS. R.Hauck-FilhoN. (2021). The unidimensionality of evil: A rating scale analysis of the short dark triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 168, Article 110376. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110376
5.
BonifayW.LaneS. P.ReiseS. P. (2017). Three concerns with applying a bifactor model as a structure of psychopathology. Clinical Psychological Science, 5(1), 184–186. https://doi.org/10.1177/2167702616657069
6.
BookA.VisserB. A.VolkA. A. (2015). Unpacking “evil”: Claiming the core of the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 73, 29–38. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2014.09.016
7.
BuckelsE. E.JonesD. N.PaulhusD. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2201–2209. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956797613490749
8.
BurnsG. L.GeiserC.ServeraM.BeckerS. P.BeauchaineT. P. (2020). Application of the Bifactor S – 1 model to multisource ratings of ADHD/ODD symptoms: An appropriate bifactor model for symptom ratings. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48(7), 881–894. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-019-00608-4
9.
CampbellW. K. (2001). Is narcissism really so bad?Psychological Inquiry, 12(4), 214–216.
10.
CarterG. L.CampbellA. C.MuncerS. (2014). The Dark Triad: Beyond a “male” mating strategy. Personality and Individual Differences, 56, 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.09.001
11.
ChenF. F. (2007). Sensitivity of goodness of fit indexes to lack of measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 14(3), 464–504. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510701301834
CleckleyH. M. (1988). The mask of sanity: An attempt to clarify some issues about the so-called psychopathic personality (5th ed.). E.S. Cleckley.
14.
CookeD. J.MichieC. (2001). Refining the construct of psychopathy: Towards a hierarchical model. Psychological Assessment, 13(2), 171–188. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.13.2.171
15.
CryselL. C.CrosierB. S.WebsterG. D. (2013). The Dark Triad and risk behavior. Personality and Individual Differences, 54(1), 35–40. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2012.07.029
16.
CzarnaA. Z.JonasonP. K.DufnerM.KossowskaM. (2016). The Dirty Dozen Scale: Validation of a Polish version and extension of the nomological net. Frontiers in Psychology, 7, Article 445. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00445
17.
DimitrovD. M. (2010). Testing for factorial invariance in the context of construct validation. Measurement and Evaluation in Counseling and Development, 43(2), 121–149. https://doi.org/10.1177/0748175610373459
18.
DinićB. M.PetrovićB.JonasonP. K. (2018). Serbian adaptations of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD) and short Dark Triad (SD3). Personality and Individual Differences, 134, 321–328. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2018.06.018
19.
EidM. (2020). Multi-faceted constructs in abnormal psychology: Implications of the Bifactor S - 1 Model for individual clinical assessment. Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology, 48(7), 895–900. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10802-020-00624-9
20.
EidM.GeiserC.KochT.HeeneM. (2017). Anomalous results in G-factor models: Explanations and alternatives. Psychological Methods, 22(3), 541–562. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000083
21.
EllisH. (1898). Auto-eroticism: A psychological study. Alienist and Neurologist, 19(2), 260–269.
22.
FerrandoP. J.Lorenzo-SevaU.Hernández-DoradoA.MuñizJ. (2022). Decalogue for the factor analysis of test items. Psicothema, 34(1), 7–17. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.456
23.
FreudS. (1986). On narcissism: An introduction. In MorganA. P. (Ed.), Essential papers on narcissism (pp. 17–43). New York University Press.
24.
FurnhamA.RichardsS. C.PaulhusD. L. (2013). The Dark Triad of personality: A 10 year review. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 7(3), 199–216. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12018
GamacheD.SavardC.Maheux-CaronV. (2018). French adaptation of the Short Dark Triad: Psychometric properties and a head-to-head comparison with the Dirty Dozen. Personality and Individual Differences, 122, 164–170. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.10.027
27.
GengY. G.SunQ. B.HuangJ. Y.ZhuY. Z.HanX. H. (2015). Dirty dozen and short dark triad: A Chinese validation of two brief measures of the dark triad. Chinese Journal of Clinical Psychology, 23(2), 246–250.
28.
GignacG. E. (2016). The higher-order model imposes a proportionality constraint: That is why the bifactor model tends to fit better. Intelligence, 55, 57–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intell.2016.01.006
29.
GlennA. L.SellbomM. (2015). Theoretical and empirical concerns regarding the Dark Triad as a construct. Journal of Personality Disorders, 29(3), 360–377. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2014_28_162
30.
GonzalezO.MacKinnonD. P.MunizF. B. (2021). Extrinsic convergent validity evidence to prevent jingle and jangle fallacies. Multivariate Behavioral Research, 56(1), 3–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/00273171.2019.1707061
31.
HancockG. R.MuellerR. O. (2001). Rethinking construct reliability within latent variable systems. In CudeckR.du ToitS.SörbomD. (Eds.), Structural equation modeling: Present and future—A Festschrift in honor of Karl Jöreskog (pp. 195–216). Scientific Software International.
32.
HareR. D. (1980). A research scale for the assessment of psychopathy in criminal populations. Personality and Individual Differences, 1(2), 111–119. https://doi.org/10.1016/0191-8869(80)90028-8
33.
HareR. D. (2003). Manual for the hare psychopathy checklist-revised. Multi-Health Systems.
HeinrichM.ZagorscakP.EidM.KnaevelsrudC. (2020). Giving G a meaning: An application of the Bifactor-(S-1) approach to realize a more symptom-oriented modeling of the Beck Depression Inventory–II. Assessment, 27(7), 1429–1447. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191118803738
36.
HernándezA.HidalgoM. D.HambletonR. K.Gómez BenitoJ. (2020). International test commission guidelines for test adaptation: A criterion checklist. Psicothema, 32(3), 390–398. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2019.306
37.
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
38.
JonasonP. K.KavanaghP. (2010). The dark side of love: Love styles and the Dark Triad. Personality and Individual Differences, 49(6), 606–610. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2010.05.030
39.
JonasonP. K.LiN. P.WebsterG. D.SchmittD. P. (2009). The dark triad: Facilitating a short-term mating strategy in men. European Journal of Personality, 23(1), 5–18. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.698
40.
JonasonP. K.LuévanoV. X. (2013). Walking the thin line between efficiency and accuracy: Validity and structural properties of the Dirty Dozen. Personality and Individual Differences, 55(1), 76–81. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2013.02.010
41.
JonasonP. K.WebsterG. D. (2010). The dirty dozen: A concise measure of the dark triad. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 420–432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019265
42.
JonasonP. K.Żemojtel-PiotrowskaM.PiotrowskiJ.SedikidesC.CampbellW. K.GebauerJ. E.MaltbyJ.AdamovicM.AdamsB. G.KadiyonoA. L.AtitsogbeK. A.BundhooH. Y.BălţătescuS.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(6), 1252–1267. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12569
43.
JonesD. N.FigueredoA. J. (2013). The core of darkness: Uncovering the heart of the Dark Triad. European Journal of Personality, 27(6), 521–531. https://doi.org/10.1002/per.1893
44.
JorgensenT. D.PornprasertmanitS.SchoemannA. M.RosseelY. (2021). semTools: Useful tools for structural equation modeling. R package version 0.5-5. https://CRAN.R-project.org/package=semTools
45.
KlimstraT. A.SijtsemaJ. J.HenrichsJ.CimaM. (2014). The Dark Triad of personality in adolescence: Psychometric properties of a concise measure and associations with adolescent adjustment from a multi-informant perspective. Journal of Research in Personality, 53, 84–92. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2014.09.001
46.
LilienfeldS. O.AndrewsB. P. (1996). Development and preliminary validation of a self-report measure of psychopathic personality traits in noncriminal population. Journal of Personality Assessment, 66(3), 488–524. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327752jpa6603_3
MaG. X.BornM. P.PetrouP.BakkerA. B. (2021). Bright sides of dark personality? A cross-cultural study on the dark triad and work outcomes. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 29, 510–518. https://doi.org/10.1111/ijsa.12342
49.
MacedoA.AraújoA. I.CabaçosC.BritoM. J.MendonçaL.PereiraA. T. (2017). Personality dark triad: Portuguese validation of the Dirty Dozen. European Psychiatry, 41(S1), S711. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eurpsy.2017.01.1268
50.
MarcusD. K.Zeigler-HillV. (2015). A Big Tent of dark personality traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(8), 434–446. https://doi.org/10.1111/spc3.12185
51.
McHoskeyJ. W.WorzelW.SzyartoC. (1998). Machiavellianism and psychopathy. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 74(1), 192–210. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.74.1.192
52.
McLarnonM. J. W.TarrafR. C. (2017). The Dark Triad: Specific or general sources of variance? A bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling approach. Personality and Individual Differences, 112, 67–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.02.049
53.
McLarnonM. J. W.TarrafR. C. (2021). Getting to the core: How “(dis)honest” is the core of the Dark Triad?Personality and Individual Differences, 171, 110545. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2020.110545
54.
MillerJ. D.HyattC. S.Maples-KellerJ. L.CarterN. T.LynamD. R. (2017). Psychopathy and Machiavellianism: A distinction without a difference?Journal of Personality, 85(4), 439–453. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12251
55.
MillerJ. D.LynamD. R.McCainJ. L.FewL. R.CregoC.WidigerT. A.CampbellW. K. (2016). Thinking structurally about narcissism: An examination of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory and its components. Journal of Personality Disorders, 30(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2015_29_177
56.
MillerJ. D.VizeC.CroweM. L.LynamD. R. (2019). A critical appraisal of the dark-triad literature and suggestions for moving forward. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 28(4), 353–360. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721419838233
57.
MorinA. J. S.ArensA. K.MarshH. W. (2016). A Bifactor Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling framework for the identification of distinct sources of construct-relevant psychometric multidimensionality. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 23(1), 116–139. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2014.961800
58.
MoshagenM.ZettlerI.HilbigB. E. (2020). Measuring the dark core of personality. Psychological Assessment, 32(2), 182–196. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000778
59.
MuñizJ.ElosuaP.HambletonR. K. (2013). Directrices para la traducción y adaptación de los tests: segunda edición. Psicothema, 25(2), 151–157. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2013.24
60.
MuñizJ.FidalgoA. M.García-CuetoE.MartínezR.MorenoR. (2005). Análisis de los ítems [Item analysis]. La Muralla.
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, psychopathy). Perspectives on Psychological Science, 12(2), 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616666070
63.
O’BoyleE. H.ForsythD. R.BanksG. C.McDanielM. A. (2012). A meta-analysis of the Dark Triad and work behavior: A social exchange perspective. Journal of Applied Psychology, 97(3), 557–579. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0025679
64.
ÖzsoyE.RauthmannJ. F.JonasonP. K.ArdıçK. (2017). Reliability and validity of the Turkish versions of Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (DTDD-T), Short Dark Triad (SD3-T), and Single Item Narcissism Scale (SINS-T). Personality and Individual Differences, 117, 11–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.05.019
65.
PatrickC. J.DrislaneL. E. (2015). Triarchic model of psychopathy: Origins, operationalizations, and observed linkages with personality and general psychopathology. Journal of Personality, 83(6), 627–643. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12119
66.
PaulhusD. L. (2014). Toward a taxonomy of dark personalities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(6), 421–426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0963721414547737
67.
PaulhusD. L.WilliamsK. M. (2002). The Dark Triad of personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Journal of Research in Personality, 36(6), 556–563. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0092-6566(02)00505-6
68.
PinedaD.SandínB.MurisP. (2020). Psychometrics properties of the Spanish version of two Dark Triad scales: The Dirty Dozen and the Short Dark Triad. Current Psychology, 39(5), 1873–1881. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-018-9888-5
69.
PorterS. (1996). Without conscience or without active conscience? The etiology of psychopathy revisited. Aggression and Violent Behavior, 1(2), 179–189. https://doi.org/10.1016/1359-1789(95)00010-0
70.
ReiseS. P.BonifayW. E.HavilandM. G. (2013). Scoring and modeling psychological measures in the presence of multidimensionality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 95, 129–140. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2012.725437?
71.
RodriguezA.ReiseS. P.HavilandM. G. (2016). Evaluating bifactor models: Calculating and interpreting statistical indices. Psychological Methods, 21(2), 137–150. https://doi.org/10.1037/met0000045
72.
RogozaR. (2021, July5). Structure of Dark Triad Dirty Dozen. https://osf.io/8nsc3
73.
RogozaR.Żemojtel-PiotrowskaM.JonasonP. K.PiotrowskiJ.CampbellK. W.GebauerJ. E.MaltbyJ.SedikidesC.AdamovicM.AdamsB. G.AngR. P.ArdiR.AtitsogbeK. A.BaltatescuS.BilićS.BodrožaB.Gruneau BrulinJ.Bundhoo PoonoosamyH. Y.ChaleeraktrakoonT.. . . WłodarczykA. (2021). Structure of Dark Triad Dirty Dozen across eight world regions. Assessment, 28(4), 1125–1135. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120922611
74.
RosseelY. (2012). lavaan: An R Package for Structural Equation Modeling. Journal of Statistical Software, 48(2), 1–36. http://www.jstatsoft.org/v48/i02/
75.
SchönbrodtF. D.PeruginiM. (2013). At what sample size do correlations stabilize?Journal of Research in Personality, 47(5), 609–612. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrp.2013.05.009
76.
SijtsmaK. (2009). On the use, the misuse, and the very limited usefulness of Cronbach's alpha. Psychometrika, 74, 107–120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11336-008-9101-0
77.
ThompsonM. S. (2016). Assessing measurement invariance of scales using multiple-group structural equation modeling. In SchweizerK.DiStefanoC. (Eds.), Principles and methods of test construction: Standards and recent advances (pp. 218–244).
78.
Vigil-ColetA.Navarro-GonzálezD.Morales-VivesF. (2020). To reverse or to not reverse likert-type items: That is the question. Psicothema, 32(1), 108–114. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2019.286
79.
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(2), 91–99. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000386
80.
WestonS. J.RitchieS. J.RohrerJ. M.PrzybylskiA. K. (2019). Recommendations for increasing the transparency of analysis of preexisting data sets. Advances in Methods and Advances in Methods and Practices in Psychological Science, 2(3), 214–227. https://doi.org/10.1177/2515245919848684
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.
