Pursuing the Dark Triad: Psychometric properties of the Spanish Version of the Dirty Dozen Lorena Maneiro, Laura Lopez-Romero, Jose Antonio Gomez-Fraguela, Olalla Cutrın, and Estrella Romero

Original Article

Pursuing the Dark Triad

Psychometric properties of the Spanish Version of the Dirty Dozen

Lorena Maneiro, 1

Laura López-Romero, 1,2

José Antonio Gómez-Fraguela, 1

Olalla Cutrín, 1 and Estrella Romero 1

1

Department of Clinical and Psychobiological Psychology, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Spain 2

Center for Criminological and PsychoSocial research (CAPS), School of Law, Psychology and Social Work, Örebro Universitet, Sweden

Abstract: The Dirty Dozen scale is a short measure developed to assess the Dark Triad traits, namely Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, which has previously shown good psychometric properties. The aim of this study was to validate a Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen through the assessment of its psychometric properties in a sample constituted by 326 young adults aged 18–34 (M = 20.55; SD = 1.89) from Spain. The Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen showed good internal consistency and acceptable test-retest stability. Likewise, the analysis of the factorial structure supported the three-factor solution and showed a best fit for the bifactorial model. The latent factor of the general Dark Triad was associated with low levels of Honesty/Humility, psychopathic traits, impulsivity, and sensation seeking; whereas a differential pattern of associations between the three specific Dark Triad latent factors and the nomological network was found. Furthermore, the Dark Triad traits showed differential relations with reactive and proactive aggression, verifying the external validity of the Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen. Results support the distinctiveness of the Dark Triad traits and justify the Dirty Dozen as an efficient measure for dark personalities in Spanish-speaking contexts.

Keywords: Dirty Dozen, Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism

The Dark Triad of personality has been proposed as a constellation of three socially aversive personality constructs in the subclinical range, namely Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Machiavellianism is characterized by a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain, and involves strategic manipulation, callous affect, and alliance building (Christie & Geis, 1970). Psychopathy describes a complex of callousness and shallow affect, along with interpersonal manipulation and lack of self-control (Hare & Neumann, 2008). Lastly, narcissism concerns grandiose sense of self, manipulation, exploitative entitlement, and callousness (Campbell & Miller, 2011). Previous research on Dark Triad has evidenced meaningful associations with psychosocial correlates such as risky behaviors (Crysel, Crosier, & Webster, 2013), criminal offending (Flexon, Meldrum, Young, & Lehmann, 2016), aggression (Vize, Lynam, Collison, & Miller, 2018), substance use (Flexon et al., 2016), short-term mating preferences (Jonason, Li, Webster, & Schmitt, 2009), and fast-life strategies (Jonason, Koenig, & Tost, 2010). The overlap among the Dark Triad traits has suggested the existence of a common antagonistic core of disagreeableness (Paulhus & Williams, 2002), lack of Honesty/Humility (Lee & Ashton, 2014), callousness and manipulation

(Jones & Figueredo, 2013), and an exploitative social style (Jonason et al., 2009), nevertheless the unique pattern of correlations with different personality traits and behavioral outcomes supports the distinctiveness of the Dark Triad traits (Furham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013; Jones & Paulhus, 2011a). Specifically, empirical evidence suggests that Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism may be best described by a single latent construct of callousness and antagonistic tendencies in conjunction with three specific factors, instead of independent, yet overlapping, traits (Bertl, Pietschnig, Tran, Stieger, & Voracek, 2017; McLarnon & Tarraf, 2017). In order to evaluate the Dark Triad traits, Jonason and Webster (2010) developed the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen, a concise measure which overcomes the limitations of the use of single long measures regarding time consumption, while incorporating flexibility in the assessment of the Dark Triad as either a single, or a three-dimensional construct. Despite some criticisms mainly derived from the high overlap between Machiavellianism and psychopathy, along with the reduction in the content in some of the subscales (Miller et al., 2012; Muris, Merckelbach, Otgaar, & Meijer, 2017), the Dirty Dozen scale has shown good and stable psychometric properties (e.g., Jonason & Luévano, 2013; Jonason & Webster, 2010; Webster & Jonason, 2013) and its utility

was proved across different populations and nationalities (e.g., Czarna, Jonason, Dufner, & Kossowska, 2016; Özsoy, Rauthmann, Jonason, & Ardıç, 2017). The evaluation of Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism simultaneously contribute to the determination of the mutual and distinct effects of the Dark Triad traits. Thus, given the lack of instruments of these characteristics in the Spanish language, the main goal of the current study was to validate a Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen. The psychometric properties regarding reliability (i.e., internal consistency and test-retest stability), factorial structure, and external validity were explored in a Spanish sample. The nomological network of the Dark Triad was assessed regarding the HEXACO model (Lee & Ashton, 2004) and other specific personality traits such as impulsivity, sensation seeking, and psychopathic traits, as well as reactive and proactive aggression. Following the recommendations of Sleep, Lynam, Hyatt, and Miller (2017), structural equation models were carried out in order to overcome the limitations of partialing redux.

According to the predictions established, the Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen must show a three-factor solution and the factorial structure should be best explained by a bifactorial model, composed of a latent factor of the global Dark Triad, and three specific latent factors associated with the Dirty Dozen’s three subscales (i.e., Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism) (Bertl et al., 2017; Jonason & Luévano, 2013; McLarnon & Tarraf, 2017). Regarding nomological network, all Dark Triad traits are expected to show the highest relations with the HEXACO Honesty/Humility factor (Jonason & McCain, 2012; Muris et al., 2017). Likewise, psychopathy would be related to impulsivity, sensation seeking, and alternative measures of psychopathic traits, but impulsivity and sensation seeking are not expected to be associated with Machiavellianism and to a lesser extent with narcissism (Jones, & Paulhus, 2011a). Machiavellianism and narcissism would also be positively related to the callousness facet of psychopathy (Jones & Figueredo, 2013). In contrast, differential associations are expected with proactive and reactive aggression, with psychopathy showing the highest association (Jonason, Duineveld, & Middleton, 2015). Machiavellianism would be higher associated with proactive aggression, while narcissism would be related to a larger extent with reactive aggression.

Method

Participants

The initial sample was composed of 326 young adults (47% males), aged 18–34 (M = 20.55; SD = 1.89), coming from Galicia (NW Spain). Part of the sample were participants

enrolled in the Faculty of Psychology who completed the questionnaires during seminar time (N = 157). These subjects were asked about potential participants through their personal contacts (N = 169). A six-month follow-up study was carried out whereby 112 participants of the initial sample took part (43.8% males), aged 19–28 (M = 21.12; SD = 1.69). In order to carry out the follow-up study after 6 months, all the questionnaires were identified with an individual password. Confidentiality and anonymity were ensured following the legal and ethic standards.

Measures

The Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen was completed by all the participants. The Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) is composed of 12 items divided in three subscales (4 items each) which assess Machiavellianism (e.g., I tend to manipulate others to get my way), psychopathy (e.g., I tend to lack remorse), and narcissism (e.g., I tend to want others to admire me), measured using a 7-point Likert scale from 1 (= strongly disagree) to 7 (= strongly agree). The original scale was translated into Spanish and then back-translated into English by two professional translators. Spanish items are presented in Table 1. The 60-item Spanish version of the HEXACO (Romero, Villar, & López-Romero, 2015) was used to assess the broad personality traits of Honesty/Humility (e.g., I would never accept a bribe, even if it were very large), Emotionality (e.g., I sometimes can’t help worrying about little things), Extraversion (e.g., I rarely express my opinions in group meetings), Agreeableness (e.g., people sometimes tell me that I am too critical of others), Conscientiousness (e.g., I often push myself very hard when trying to achieve a goal), and Openness (e.g., I would be quite bored by a visit to an art gallery). Participants were asked their agreement with the statements from 1 (= strongly disagree) to 5 (= strongly agree). Impulsivity traits were assessed by the short Spanish version of the UPPS-P (Cándido, Orduña, Perales, VerdejoGarcía, & Billieux, 2012), a 20-item measure composed of 5 subscales (4 items each): Positive Urgency (e.g., I tend to act without thinking when I am really excited), Negative Urgency (e.g., when I am upset I often act without thinking), (lack of) Premeditation (e.g., I usually think carefully before doing anything), (lack of) Perseverance (e.g., I finish what I start), and Sensation Seeking (e.g., I quite enjoy taking risks). The items were scored on a Likert scale from 1 (= totally disagree) to 4 (= totally agree). The global score was used in the current study.

The Spanish version of the Brief Sensation Seeking Scale (BSSS, Hoyle, Stephenson, Palmgreen, Lorch, & Donohew, 2002) is composed of 8 items (e.g., I would like to explore

Table 1 . Spanish items of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen, their respective factors, and their loadings on each component of the principal component analysis

Component Factor or item 123

Machiavellianism

(1) Tiendo a manipular a los demás [I tend to manipulate others to get my way]
.01 .85
.02 (2) He usado el engaño y mentido [I have used deceit or lied to get my way]
.13 .91 .00 (3) He usado halagos [I have used flattery to get my way] .13 .79
.14 (4) Suelo utilizar a los demás [I tend to exploit others toward my own end] .09 .73 .10 Psychopathy

(5) No suelo tener remordimientos [I tend to lack remorse] .05
.20 .83 (6) No me preocupa la moralidad [I tend to be unconcerned with the morality of my actions]
.01
.06 .83 (7) Suelo ser duro e insensible [I tend to be callous or insensitive]
.11 .31 .59 (8) Suelo ser cínico [I tend to be cynical] .07 .29 .56 Narcissism

(9) Quiero que me admiren [I tend to want others to admire me] .90
.07 .12 (10) Quiero que me presten atención [I tend to want others to pay attention to me] .91
.07 .04 (11) Suelo buscar prestigio [I tend to seek prestige or status] .89 .03
.08 (12) Suelo esperar un trato de favor [I tend to expect special favors from others] .64 .20
.09

Note. Factor loadings > .40 are boldfaced.

strange places) measured by a 5-point Likert scale from 1 (= strongly disagree) to 5 (= strongly agree). Psychopathic traits were assessed through the Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory-Short Version (YPI-S, Van Baardewijk et al., 2010), an 18-item self-report which comprises three factors (6 items each), namely Grandiose-Manipulative (e.g., it’s easy for me to manipulate people), CallousUnemotional (e.g., to be nervous and worried is a sign of weakness), and Impulsive-Irresponsible (e.g., I consider myself as a pretty impulsive person). Each item is scored on a 4-point Likert scale ranging from 0 (= does not apply at all) to 3 (= apply very well). Aggression was assessed by the Reactive and Proactive Aggression Questionnaire (RPQ, Raine et al., 2006). The scale consists of 23 items rated on a 3-point scale from 0 (= never) to 2 (= often) which distinguish between reactive (e.g., I reacted angrily when provoked by others) and proactive aggression (e.g., I had fights with others to show who was on top).

Results

Descriptive statistics at both Time 1 and Time 2 are presented in Table A1 (see Appendix) for a more in-depth view. The analysis of sex differences was carried out through a multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). Men scored higher than women in Machiavellianism, F(313) = 8.45, p < .01, η p 2

= .03; psychopathy, F(313) = 25.16, p < .001, η p 2

= .07; narcissism, F(313) = 5.03, p < .05, η p 2

= .02; and the global score of the Dark Triad, F(313) = 20.41, p < .001, η p 2

= .06.

The internal consistencies (i.e., Cronbach’s α) for the global Dark Triad, Machiavellianism, and narcissism were good, while the internal consistency for psychopathy was acceptable, as can be seen in Table A1 (see Appendix). Test-retest reliability was analyzed by correlating Time 1 and Time 2 scores. The test-retest correlations displayed moderated coefficients for Machiavellianism (r = .60), psychopathy (r = .59), and for the global scale (r = .63) as well as a high coefficient for narcissism (r = .70). All the three Dark Triad traits were positively intercorrelated, with the highest correlation found between Machiavellianism and psychopathy (r = .43, p < .001), similar to that between Machiavellianism and narcissism (r = .41, p < .001), and the lowest found between psychopathy and narcissism (r = .13, p < .05). In order to replicate the factorial structure of the scale, a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with promax oblique rotation (k = 4) was carried out in the Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen using the SPSS 20.0 statistical package. The PCA showed a three-factor solution, namely Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, which explained 67.27% of the total variance. Factor 1, which reflected narcissism, accounted for 37.55% of the variance and had an eigenvalue of 4.51. Factor 2, which referred to Machiavellianism, accounted for 19. 03% of the variance and had an eigenvalue of2.28. Factor 3, which referred to psychopathy, explained 10.69% of the variance and had an eigenvalue of 1.28. Results of the PCA are displayed in Table 1. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with a weighted least squares, mean and variance adjusted (WLSMV) estimation was subsequently carried out to test the factorial structure of the scale using MPlus 7. Three models were

Figure 1. Bifactorial model of the Spanish version of Dirty Dozen Measure of the Dark Triad. Estimates are standardized coefficients. All the factor loadings were statistically significant at p < .001, with the exception of the paths from global Dark Triad to the items 5 and 6 and the path from narcissism to item 12 that were not statistically significant. The factor loading of the path from global Dark Triad to the item 7 was statistically significant at p < .05.

computed in the CFA. The first model holds that there is a single, unitary Dark Triad construct. The second model identifies three interrelated Dark Triad traits. Lastly, a bifactorial model was tested, which includes a latent factor of the global Dark Triad, and three latent factors associated with the Dirty Dozen’s subscales. The results of the CFA showed a better fit for the bifactorial model (CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .08, 90% CI [.06, .09]), compared to the single dimension model (CFI = .75, TLI = .70, RMSEA = .25, 90% CI [.24, .27]), and three interrelated Dark Triad traits (CFI = .96, TLI = .95, RMSEA = .10, 90% CI [.09, .11]). The bifactorial model is presented in Figure 1. Likewise, configural invariance across gender was assessed, that is, the invariance of factor structure across males and females. The bifactorial model showed acceptable goodness of fit both for males (CFI = .99, TLI = .98, RMSEA = .07, 90% CI [.05, .12]) and females (CFI = .98, TLI = .97, RMSEA = .07, 90% CI [.05, .10]) and resulted invariant across gender (ΔCFI < .01). Table 2 shows zero-order correlations between Dirty Dozen’s subscales and the variables that form the nomological network of the Dark Triad, as well as with aggression, both reactive and proactive. All the Dark Triad traits were related to low levels of Honesty/Humility and

Agreeableness, whilst Machiavellians and psychopaths also evidenced lack of Emotionality and lack of Conscientiousness. Likewise, Machiavellianism, psychopathy, narcissism, and the global Dark Triad were correlated with high levels of psychopathic traits (i.e., grandiose-deceitful, callous-unemotional, and impulsivity-need of stimulation), impulsivity, sensation seeking, and aggression, both reactive and proactive.

A series of structural equation models were carried out in order to test the latent contribution of the Dirty Dozen. All the models included the three latent factors associated with the Dirty Dozen’s subscales as well as a latent factor of the global Dark Triad according to the bifactorial structure of the scale. Specifically, ten different models were analyzed: one for each facet of the HEXACO (i.e., Honesty/Humility, Emotionality, Extraversion, Agreeableness, Conscientiousness, and Openness); another which included the three dimensions of the YPI-S (i.e., grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and impulsive-irresponsible); one for impulsivity and other for sensation seeking; and the last one for aggression, including proactive and reactive aggression as latent variables. The goodness of fit indexes is presented in Table 3. All the models presented an acceptable goodness of fit, nevertheless in the models which included

Table 2. Zero-order correlations between the Dirty Dozen subscales and the different facets of the personality correlates and behavioral outcomes

Cronbach’s α

Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism Dirty Dozen

HEXACO model

Honesty-Humility .82
.54***
.36***
.36***
.56*** Emotionality .84
.30***
.48*** .00
.33*** Extraversion .82
.02
.02 .08 .02 Agreeableness .80
.26***
.17**
.13*
.25*** Conscientiousness .88
.32***
.26***
.05
.27*** Openness .81 .02
.10 .00
.03 Psychopathic traits

Grandiose-deceitful .81 .56** .35*** .33*** .55*** Callous-unemotional .75 .40*** .42*** .24*** .46*** Impulsivity-need of stimulation .74 .35*** .20*** .17* .31*** Impulsivity .73 .33*** .18*** .12* .28*** Sensation seeking .71 .29*** .12* .13* .24*** Aggression

Reactive aggression .81 .36*** .19** .30*** .38*** Proactive aggression .76 .50*** .36*** .31*** .52***

Note. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 (all two-tailed).

Table 3. Goodness of fit of the different computed models

w2 (df) RMSEA [90% CI] CFI TLI

HEXACO

Honesty/humility 448.30 (189) .06 [.06, .07] .90 .90 Emotionality 401.74 (190) .06 [.05, .07] .92 .90 Extraversion 423.43 (188) .06 [.05, .07] .90 .88 Agreeableness 405.78 (190) .06 [.05, .07] .90 .88 Conscientiousness 347.86 (188) .05 [.04, .06] .94 .93 Openness 345.23 (189) .05 [.04, .06] .94 .92 Psychopathic traits 731.40 (374) .05 [.05, .06] .90 .89 Impulsivity 194.74 (98) .05 [.04, .07] .96 .93 Sensation seeking 285.82 (151) .05 [.04, .06] .94 .92 Aggression 1,134.54 (536) .06 [.05, .06] .84 .82

Notes. Psychopathic traits included the three facets of the YPI-S in the model (i.e., Grandiose-manipulative, Callous-unemotional, and Impulsiveirresponsible). Aggression included Proactive and Reactive aggression in the model.

Honesty/Humility, Extraversion, Conscientiousness, Openness, psychopathic traits, and impulsivity, modification indexes were used in order to improve the fit.

The Dark Triad factors, both global and three specific factors, showed a different pattern of associations with other personality traits and behavioral outcomes. Regarding the general personality model, Machiavellians evidenced low levels of Agreeableness, whereas psychopaths were associated to lack Honesty/Humility, lack of Emotionality, and lack of Conscientiousness. The general factor of the Dark Triad was only related to lack of Honesty/Humility.Machiavellians also showed high levels of grandiose-manipulative and impulsive-irresponsible traits, as well as sensation seeking and aggression, both proactive and reactive. Psychopaths revealed high levels of callous-unemotional traits and

proactive aggression, while the general Dark Triad factor was associated with grandiose-manipulative and callousunemotional traits, impulsivity, sensation seeking, and both reactive and proactive aggression. Narcissism was not related neither to other personality traits nor behavioral outcomes once the shared variance was controlled for. Results are displayed in Table 4.

Discussion

The Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen showed good psychometric properties regarding reliability, construct validity, and external validity. According to prior studies, internal

Dirty Dozen Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism β β ββ

HEXACO

Honesty/humility
.65*** .01
.45* .12 Emotionality .02 .01
.68*** .14 Extraversion .10
.04
.09 .04 Agreeableness
.11
.35**
.03
.17 Conscientiousness
.11
.17
.29* .17 Openness .21
.52 .52
.29 Psychopathic traits

Grandiose-manipulative .39*** .53*** .10 .02 Callous-unemotional .37***
.09 .67***
.20 Impulsive-irresponsible .14 .31** .06 .06 Impulsivity .29** .17 .14
.21 Sensation seeking .22* .30*
.01
.05 Aggression

Proactive aggression .37*** .31** .25*
.07 Reactive aggression .32*** .27** .03 .13

Notes. Estimates are standardized regression coefficients. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001 (all two-tailed).

consistency and test-retest displayed good and acceptable values, respectively, for each of the Dirty Dozen subscales as well as for the global scale (Jonason & Webster, 2010). The three Dirty Dozen subscales were positively intercorrelated. As expected, the highest correlation was observed between psychopathy and Machiavellianism (Furnham, Richards, Rangel, & Jones, 2014). Likewise, the three-factor structure of the scale was replicated in the Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen and, as predicted, the analysis of the factorial structure showed a best fit for the bifactorial model. This result supports the existence of a latent global Dark Triad factor which measures the residual Dark Triad after the variance attributable to the three subscales latent factors are removed (Bertl, et al., 2017; McLarnon & Tarraf, 2017). Therefore, the Dark Triad traits can be considered as individual personality traits as well as a higher-order dark personality dimension (Jonason & Luévano, 2013). The Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen has shown differential pattern of associations with the facets of the HEXACO model of personality. The Honesty/Humility factor displayed the highest negative correlations with all the Dark Triad traits. Given this factor is defined by the facets of sincerity, fairness, greed avoidance, and modesty (Lee & Ashton, 2004), and is considered an indicator of an antagonistic social style, the correlations with the Dark Triad traits were expected (Jonason & McCain, 2012; Muris et al., 2017). Likewise, although the psychopathy latent variable was related to low levels of Honesty/Humility, the largest relation was found with the general Dark Triad latent factor. This fact supports the assumption that the

core of the Dark Triad can be understood in terms of general personality as a lack of Honesty/Humility and, as a new study has posited (Hodson et al., 2018), it would be reasonable that the Dark Triad and the Honesty/Humility facet would be “two ends of a common dimension” (Hodson et al., 2018, p. 124). On the other hand, in terms of correlations, the results regarding the other facets are consistent with previous findings (Jonason & McCain, 2012; Muris et al., 2017). However, when more powerful statistic analyses were used, Machiavellians only remained related to lack of Agreeableness whilst psychopaths evidenced the largest associations with lack of Emotionality followed by lack of Honesty/Humility and low levels of Conscientiousness. These findings support the bifactorial structure of the Dirty Dozen which could be explained by a general Dark Triad factor defined by low levels of Honesty/Humility and specific association of the Dark Triad traits with different facets of the general personality model (Lee & Ashton, 2014). The analysis of the relations with psychopathic traits evidenced significant positive associations of all the Dark Triad traits with grandiose-manipulative, callous-unemotional, and impulsive-irresponsible facets of psychopathy. Nevertheless, when the latent contribution of the Dark Triad was analyzed, only the general factor remained related to grandiose-manipulative and callous-unemotional traits. These results go along with prior studies which suggest that all dark personalities share a common core of callousness and interpersonal coldness, related to primary psychopathy (Jones & Figueredo, 2013). Furthermore,

Machiavellians displayed high levels of grandiose-manipulative traits, which is in line with the expectations since both facets share an interpersonal domain of manipulation. Contrary to the predictions, Machiavellians exhibited more impulsive-irresponsible traits, specific to the behavioral dimension of the psychopathy construct. Although this finding is in accordance with previous studies (Crysel et al., 2013; Vize et al., 2018), the conceptual framework posits that Machiavellian individuals are neither erratic nor impulsive, but they involve strategic planning (e.g., Jones & Paulhus, 2011b). Finally, psychopaths showed the largest relation with callous-unemotional traits. This result supports previous findings which posit that the psychopathy Dirty Dozen subscale assesses mainly primary psychopathy but fails to capture interpersonal and disinhibitory traits characteristic of secondary psychopathy (Maples, Lamkin, & Miller, 2014; Miller et al., 2012). Despite all, the Dark Triad traits were significantly positive associated with impulsivity and sensation seeking; only the general Dark Triad factor remained significantly related to both of them once the latent contribution was evaluated. The idea of an underlying common behavioral dimension could be derived from a functional –dysfunctional impulsivity perspective. That is, it could be feasible that Machiavellians and narcissists use functional impulsivity in order to reach their goals, whereas dysfunctional impulsivity would be characteristic of psychopaths because of their self-control deficits (Jones & Paulhus, 2011b). These impulsive tendencies are not explained by the specific Dark Triad factors but seem that they take part in the core of the construct. Contrary to the expectations, Machiavellians also showed high levels of sensation seeking (Jones & Paulhus, 2011a). The results of the current study partially support the initial predictions regarding aggression. All the Dark Triad traits were significantly related to aggression, both reactive and proactive, a finding that replicates past work (Barlett, 2016; Vize et al., 2018). However, once controlling for the other dimensions, the general Dark Triad factor and Machiavellianism remained associated with both forms of aggression, and psychopathy was related to proactive aggression. It is not surprising that all Dark Triad traits share a core of aggression because of the malevolent side of this construct (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). Likewise, proactive aggression has previously shown strong relations with psychopathy (Jonason et al., 2015), which defines a more severe and persistent pattern of antisocial behavior (López-Romero, Romero, & Villar, 2017). Nevertheless, although obtained results of Machiavellianism could be expected regarding proactive aggression, that is, Machiavellians could use tactics such as aggression to achieve their goals (Paulhus & Williams, 2002); with regards to reactive aggression results are unexpected, mainly because reactive aggression tends

to be associated with more impulsivity self-regulation problems (Jonason et al., 2015). This study has some theoretical and practical implications. One of the main contributions refers to the use of latent variable modeling, which supported the bifactorial structure of the scale. The confirmation of the bifactorial structure of the Dark Triad justifies the use of a unique measure of the Dark Triad which includes all the Dark Triad traits instead of the use of individual measures for Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, since there is a common variance of the construct that is not captured with these individual measures. This fact is important for the development of effective strategies adapted to each personality profile in the field of prevention and intervention. Thus, the current study provides a Spanish validation of the Dirty Dozen which shows good psychometric properties and may be considered as a relatively efficient measure for Dark personalities in Spanish-speaking contexts.

Limitations

This study is not exempt of some limitations. Firstly, the use of brief measures might not well capture the core aspects of the respective constructs. Secondly, gender moderation was not assessed because of the sample size. Lastly, data used in this study were collected through self-report questionnaires therefore results might be partially influenced by shared method variance. These limitations should be addressed in future studies.

Conclusions

The Spanish version of Dirty Dozen shows good psychometric properties and supports the distinctiveness of the Dark Triad traits through specific associations with other personality traits and behavioral outcomes. Nevertheless, all Dark Triad traits seem to share a common core of lack of honesty/humility, grandiose-manipulative traits, callousunemotional, impulsivity, and sensation seeking. Therefore the Spanish version of the Dirty Dozen may be considered as a relatively efficient measure for Dark personalities in Spanish-speaking contexts.

Acknowledgments This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness [Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad] under Grant PSI2015-65766-R, and cofunded by the European Regional Development Fund [Fondo Europero de Desarrollo Regional, FEDER] corresponding to the multiannual financial framework

2014–2020. Data, analytic methods, and study materials will be available to other researchers upon request to the corresponding author. The research is not pre-registered in an independent, institutional registry.

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Received October 18, 2017 Revision received March 8, 2018 Accepted March 14, 2018 Published online September 13, 2018

Lorena Maneiro Department of Clinical and Psychobiological Psychology Universidade de Santiago de Compostela C/Xosé María Suárez Núñez, s/n, Campus Sur 15782 Santiago de Compostela Spain lorena.maneiro@usc.es

Appendix

Table A1. Descriptive statistics and internal consistency for all scales used, both T1 and T2

M (SD) T1 T1 α M (SD)

Dark Triad 34.59 (11.23) .84 34.55 (10.80) .82 Machiavellianism 10.65 (4.84) .85 10.60 (4.86) .84

Psychopathy 9.88 (4.69) .73 9.59 (4.73) .74 Narcissism 14.05 (5.64) .87 14.35 (5.45) .86

HEXACO

Honesty/Humility 33.99 (7.70) .82

Emotionality 33.57 (7.11) .84

Extraversion 33.55 (6.44) .82

Agreeableness 30.14 (6.34) .80

Conscientiousness 34.60 (7.56) .88

Openness 34.18 (8.25) .81

YPI

Grandiose-manipulative 5.59 (3.82) .81 10.51 (4.06) .86

Callous-unemotional 4.31 (3.65) .75 9.07 (3.28) .76 Impulsive-irresponsible 8.24 (3.63) .74 13.01 (4.06) .65 Impulsivity 47.40 (8.78) .73 51.73 (8.51) .71 Sensation seeking 3.51 (0.64) .71 2.30 (0.75) .77 Aggression

Proactive aggression 15.29 (3.13) .81 14.34 (2.30) .72 Reactive aggression 20.02 (3.82) .76 19.29 (3.49) .78

Notes. YPI = Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory Short version. HEXACO was not filled out in T2.