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Abstract
Background: The Dark Triad (i.e., Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) can be captured quickly with 12 items using the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (Jonason and Webster, 2010). Previous Item Response Theory (IRT) analyses of the original English Dark Triad Dirty Dozen have shown that all three subscales adequately tap into the dark domains of personality. The aim of the present study was to analyze the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen using IRT.
Method: 570 individuals (n_males = 326, n_females = 242, and 2 unreported), including university students and white-collar workers with an age range between 19 and 65 years, responded to the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen.
Results: Contrary to previous research, we found that the narcissism scale provided most information, followed by psychopathy, and finally Machiavellianism. Moreover, the psychopathy scale required a higher level of the latent trait for endorsement of its items than the narcissism and Machiavellianism scales.
Conclusion: This is the first study to provide IRT analyses of the Swedish version of the Dark Triad Dirty Dozen. Our findings highlight psychometric characteristics which can be used for comparative studies. Importantly, the narcissism scale seems to provide more information about a lack of narcissism, perhaps mirroring cultural conditions.
Citation
Garcia, D., Persson, B. N., Al Nima, A., Gruneau Brulin, J., Rapp-Ricciardi, M., & Kajonius, P. J. (2018). IRT analyses of the Swedish Dark Triad Dirty Dozen. Heliyon, 4, e00569. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00569
@article{GPNBK18,
author = {Danilo Garcia and Björn N. Persson and Ali Al Nima and Joel Gruneau Brulin and Max Rapp-Ricciardi and Petri J. Kajonius},
year = {2018},
title = {IRT Analyses of the Swedish Dark Triad Dirty Dozen},
journal = {Heliyon},
volume = {4},
pages = {e00569},
doi = {10.1016/j.heliyon.2018.e00569}}