How to Cite
Abstract
Background: The Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) is a recently developed instrument for assessing the “dark” personality traits of psychopathy, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and sadism. We aimed to examine the SD4’s psychometric properties, adapting it into Spanish and exploring its structure, gender invariance, reliability, concurrent validity, and nomological network. Method: A sample of 668 adults (Mage = 26.36, SD = 10.64, 69.2% females) completed the SD4 and other self-report questionnaires. Results: The results demonstrated sound indices of reliability and concurrent validity, an adequate four-factor structure, and support for gender invariance. Furthermore, most of the findings about the nomological network were in line with prior hypotheses: All four SD4 scales were associated with low levels of agreeableness and antagonism; psychopathy was also related to low conscientiousness, disinhibition and impulse-control problems; narcissism was positively associated with extraversion and negatively associated with internalizing symptoms; Machiavellianism was uncorrelated with impulsivity- related problems, which made it distinct from the psychopathy profile; finally, sadism showed a similar pattern of associations to psychopathy, albeit less strongly linked to impulsivity problems and externalizing behavior. Conclusions: Overall, the SD4 presents sound psychometric properties, although the overlap between psychopathy and sadism warrants some caution.
References
Achenbach, T. M., & Ivanova, M. Y. (2018). Manual for the ASEBA Brief Problem Monitor for ages 18-59 (BPM/18-59). University of Vermont, Research Center for Children, Youth, and Families.
Back, M. D., Küfner, A. C. P., Dufner, M., Gerlach, T. M., Rauthmann, J. F., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2013). Narcissistic admiration and rivalry: Disentangling the bright and dark sides of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(6), 1013-1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034431
Beauchaine, T., & Sauder, C. L. (2017). Trait impulsivity and the externalizing spectrum. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 13, 343-368. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-clinpsy-021815-093253
Blötner, C. & Mokros, A. (2023). The next distinction without a difference: Do psychopathy and sadism scales assess the same construct? Personality and Individual Differences, 205, Article 112102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. paid.2023.112102
Blötner, C., Webster, G. D., & Wongsomboon, V. (2022). Measurement invariance of the Short Dark Tetrad across cultures and genders. European Journal of Psychological Assessment. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000715
Blötner, C., Ziegler, M., Wehner, C., Back, M. D., & Grosz, M. P. (2021). The nomological network of the Short Dark Tetrad Scale (SD4). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 38(3), 187-197. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000655
Bonfá-Araujo, B., Lima-Costa, A. R., Hauck-Filho, N., & Jonason, P. K. (2022). Considering sadism in the shadow of the Dark Triad traits: A meta-analytic review of the Dark Tetrad. Personality and Individual Differences, 197, Article 111767. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2022.111767
Buckels, E. E., Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2013). Behavioral confirmation of everyday sadism. Psychological Science, 24(11), 2201–2209. https://doi. org/10.1177/0956797613490749
Chabrol, H., Van Leeuwen, N., Rodgers, R., & Séjourné, N. (2009). Contributions of psychopathic, narcissistic, Machiavellian, and sadistic personality traits to juvenile delinquency. Personality and Individual Differences, 47(7), 734–739. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2009.06.020
Chen, F. 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
Cheung, G. W., & Rensvold, R. B. (2002). Evaluating goodness-of-fit indexes for testing measurement invariance. Structural Equation Modeling, 9(2), 233-255. https://doi.org/10.1207/S15328007SEM0902_5
Christie, R., & Geis, F. L. (1970). Studies in Machiavellianism. Academic Press. Cohen, J. (1992). A Power primer. Psychological Bulletin, 112(1), 155–159. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.112.1.155
Colins, O. F., Fanti, K. A., Salekin, R. T., & Andershed, H. (2016). Psychopathic personality in the general population: Differences and similarities across gender. Journal of Personality Disorders, 31(1), 49-74. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi_2016_30_237.
Dinić, B. M., & Jevremov, T. (2021). Trends in research related to the Dark Triad: A bibliometric analysis. Current Psychology, 40(7), 3206-3215. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-019-00250-9
Du, T. V., Collison, K. L., Vize, C. E., Miller., J. D. & Lynam, D. R. (2021). Development and validation of the Super-Short form of the Five Factor Machiavellianism Inventory (FFMI-SSF). Journal of Personality Assessment, 103(6), 732-739. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2021.1878525
European Parliament. (2016). Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the European Parliament and of the Council. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/eli/ reg/2016/679/oj
Furnham, A., Richards, S. C., & Paulhus, D. 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
Gajda, A., Morón, M., Królik, M., Maluch, M., & Mraczek, M. (2022). The Dark Tetrad, cybervictimization, and cyberbullying: The role of moral disengagement. Current Psychology. Advance online publication. https:// doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03456-6
Garofalo, C., Neumann, C. S., Zeigler-Hill, V., & Meloy, J. R. (2019). Spiteful and contemptuous: A new look at the emotional experiences related to psychopathy. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 10(2), 173-184. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000310
Garofalo, C., Neumann, C. S., Kosson, D. S., & Velotti, P. (2020). Psychopathy and emotion dysregulation: More than meets the eye. Psychiatry Research, 290, Article 113160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.113160
Gillespie, S. M., Kongerslev, M. T., Bo, S., & Abu-Akel, A. M. (2021). Schizotypy and psychopathic tendencies interactively improve misattribution of affect in boys with conduct problems. European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(6), 885-897. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s00787-020-01567-8
Gordts, S., Uzieblo, K., Neumann, C., Van den Bussche, E., & Rossi, G. (2017). Validity of the Self-Report Psychopathy Scales (SRP-III full and short versions) in a community sample. Assessment, 24(3), 308-325. https://doi. org/10.1177/1073191115606205
Grigoras, M., Wille, B. (2017). Shedding light on the dark side: Associations between the Dark Triad and the DSM-5 maladaptive trait model. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 516-521. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. paid.2016.09.016
Hare, R. D. (2003). Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) (2nd ed.). Multi-Health Systems.
Hare, R. D., & Neumann, C. S. (2008). Psychopathy as a clinical and empirical construct. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 4, 217-246. https://doi. org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.3.022806.091452
Hartung, J., Bader, M., Moshagen, M., & Wilhelm, O. (2022). Age and gender differences in socially aversive (“dark”) personality traits. European Journal of Personality, 36(1), 3-23. https://doi.org/10.1177/0890207020988435
Jonason, P. K. (2023). Shining light on the dark side of personality: Measurement properties and theoretical advances. Hogrefe Publishing.
Jonason, P. K., & Webster, G. D. (2010). The Dirty Dozen: A concise measure of the Dark Triad. Psychological Assessment, 22(2), 420–432. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0019265
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. L. (2009). Machiavellianism. In M. R. Leary & R. H. Hoyle (Eds.), Handbook of individual differences in social behavior (pp. 93–108). The Guilford Press.
Jones, D. N., & Paulhus, D. 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
Klipfel, K. M., Garofalo, C., & Kosson, D. S. (2017). Clarifying associations between psychopathy facets and personality disorders among offenders. Journal of Criminal Justice, 53, 83-91. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jcrimjus.2017.09.002
Kosson, D. S., Garofalo, C., McBride, C. K., & Velotti, P. (2020). Get mad: Chronic anger expression and psychopathic traits in three independent samples. Journal of Criminal Justice, 67, 101672. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jcrimjus.2020.101672
Liu, Y., Zhou, B., Ouyang, Y., Yang, B. & Xie, Q. (2023). Development and validation of Chinese form Short Dark Tetrad (C-SD4). Heliyon, 9(1), Article E12929. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e12929
Marcus, D. K., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2015). A big tent of dark personality traits. Social and Personality Psychology Compass, 9(8), 434–446. https://doi. org/10.1111/spc3.12185
McCrae, R. R., & Costa, P. T. (2008). NEO PI-R, Revised NEO Personality Inventory and NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). TEA Ediciones.
Mededovic, J., & Damjanovic, A. (2018). Measuring psychopathy via small sample of TriPM items. Zbornik Instituta za kriminološka i sociološka istraživanja, 37, 7-22.
Miller, J. D., Hyatt, C. S., Maples‐Keller, J. L., Carter, N. T., & Lynam, D.
R. (2017). Psychopathy and Machiavellianism: A distinction without a difference? Journal of Personality, 85(4), 439-453. https://doi.org/10.1111/ jopy.12251
Moshagen, M., Hilbig, B. E., & Zettler, I. (2018). The dark core of personality. Psychological Review, 125(5), 656–688. https://doi.org/10.1037/ rev0000111
Muñiz, J., Elosua, P., & Hambleton, R. K. (2013). Directices para la traducción y adaptación de los tests: Segunda edición [International Test Commission Guidelines for test translation and adaptation: Second edition]. Psicothema, 25(2), 151-157. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2013.24
Muris, P., Merckelbach, H., Otgaar, H., & Meijer, E. (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(2), 183–204. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691616666070
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2017). Mplus: Statistical analysis with latent variables: User’s guide (version 8). Authors.
Neumann, C. S., Jones, D. N., Paulhus, D. L. (2022). Examining the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) across models, correlates, and gender. Assessment, 29(4), 651- 667. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191120986624
O’Boyle, E. H., Forsyth, D. R., Banks, G., Story, P. A., & White, C. 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(6), 644- 664. https://doi.org/10.1111/jopy.12126
O’Meara, A., Davies, J., & Hammond, S. (2011). The psychometric properties and utility of the Short Sadistic Impulse Scale (SSIS). Psychological Assessment, 23(2), 523-531. https://doi.org10.1037/a0022400
Ortet-Walker, J., Giménez-Vidal, S., Mezquita, L., & Ibáñez, M. I. (2019, April 4-5). Dark personality in 4D: Adaptation of the SSIS and ASP sadism scales to Spanish [Poster presentation]. II Escuela de Primavera de la Sociedad para el Avance de la Evaluación Psicológica, Barcelona, Spain. https://seaep.es/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/res%C3%BAmenes-p%C3%B3sters-II-ESCUELA.pdf
Ortet-Walker, J. Vidal-Arenas, V., Mezquita, L., Ortet, G., Miller, J. D., Lynam, D. R., & Ibáñez, M. I. (2021, December 2-3). Spanish adaptation of the Five-Factor Model Dark Triad Inventory (FFM D*TI): Psychometric properties in an adult, community sample [Poster presentation]. X AIIDI Conference, Madrid, Spain. https://drive.google. com/file/u/0/d/17iODSKPkOsF2ey0o2sfWjwpuTk1GMgxi/view
Patrick, C. J. (2010). Operationalizing the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy: Preliminary description of brief scales for assessment of boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. Unpublished test manual, Florida State University. Test retrieved from https://www.phenxtoolkit.org/ index.php?pageLink=browse.protocoldetails&id=121601
Paulhus, D. L. (2014). Toward a taxonomy of dark personalities. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 23(6), 421-426. https://doi. org/10.1177/0963721414547737
Paulhus, D. L., Buckels, E. E., Trapnell, P. D., & Jones, D. N. (2022). Screening for dark personalities: The Short Dark Tetrad (SD4). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 37(3), 208-222. http://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1015- 5759/a000602
Paulhus, D. L., Gupta, R., & Jones, D. N. (2021). Dark or disturbed?: Psychopathic aggression from the Dark Tetrad and schizotypy. Aggressive Behavior, 47(6), 635-645. https://doi.org/10.1002/ab.21990
Paulhus, D. L., & Jones, D. N. (2015). Measures of dark personalities. In G. J. Boyle, D. H. Saklofske, & G. Matthews (Eds.), Measures of personality and social psychological constructs (pp. 562–594). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386915- 9.00020-6
Paulhus, D. L., Neumann, C. S., & Hare, R. D. (2017). Self-Report Psychopathy Scale 4th Edition (SRP 4) Manual. MHS, Multi-Health Systems Incorporated.
Paulhus, D. L., & Williams, K. 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
Pechorro, P., Karandikar, S., Carvalho, B., DeLisi, M., & Jones, D. N. (2022). Screening for dark personalities in Portugal: Intra- and interpersonal correlates, reliability and invariance of the Short Dark Tetrad Portuguese version. Deviant Behavior, 44(4), 551-566. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2022.2071655
Plouffe, R. A., Saklofske, D. H., & Smith, M. M. (2017). The assessment of sadistic personality: Preliminary psychometric evidence for a new measure. Personality and Individual Differences, 104, 166-171. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2016.07.043
Poy, R., Segarra, P., Esteller, À., López, R., & Moltó, J. (2014). FFM description of the triarchic conceptualization of psychopathy in men and women. Psychological Assessment, 26(1), 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034642
Qaderi Bagajan, K., Ziegler, M., Soleimani, M., Paulhus, D. L., Soleimani, Z. A., Kordbagheri, M., Alavinejad, L., Amiri, H., Asl, V. Y., Hoseini, S., & Bagajan, H. Q. (2024). Validation of the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4) in Persian: Assessment of its structure and nomological network. Journal of Individual Differences. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1027/1614-0001/a000417
Raskin, R. N., & Hall, C. S. (1979). A Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Psychological Reports, 45(2), 590. https://doi.org/10.2466/pr0.1979.45.2.590.
Romero, E. & Alonso, C. (2019). Maladaptive personality traits in adolescence: Behavioural, emotional and motivational correlates of the PID-5-BF scales. Psicothema, 31(3), 263-270. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2019.86
Rose, L., Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2022). Validation of the Five-Factor Model Antagonistic Triad Measure. Assessment, 30(3), 782-797. https://doi. org/10.1177/10731911211068083
Sass, D. A. (2011). Testing measurement invariance and comparing latent factor means within a confirmatory factor analysis framework. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment, 29(4), 347-363. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/0734282911406661
Schreyer, H., Plouffe, R. A., Wilson, C. A., & Saklofske, D. H. (2021). What makes a leader? Trait emotional intelligence and Dark Tetrad traits predict transformational leadership beyond HEXACO personality factors. Current Psychology, 42(3), 2077-2086. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s12144-021-01571-4
Skeem, J. L., Polaschek, D. L. L., Patrick, C. J., & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2011). Psychopathic personality. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 12(3), 95–162. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100611426706
Tomás-Portalés, C. Benhaddou, M., Ortet-Walker, J., Vidal-Arenas, V., & Ibáñez, M. I. (2021a, December 2-3). Psychometric properties of the Short version of the TriPM, a brief assessment instrument of the Triarchic Model of psychopathy [Poster presentation]. X AIIDI Conference, Madrid, Spain. https://drive.google.com/file/u/0/d/17iODS KPkOsF2ey0o2sfWjwpuTk1GMgxi/view
Tomás-Portalés, C., Ortet-Walker, J., Calvo-Brun, C., Vidal-Arenas, V., & Ibáñez, M. I. (2021b, December 2-3). The dark side of the man [Poster presentation]. X AIIDI Conference, Madrid, Spain. https://drive.google.com/file/u/0/d/17iODSKPkOsF2ey0o2sfWjwpuTk1GMgxi/view
Vize, C. E., Collison, K. L., Miller, J. D., & Lynam, D. R. (2020). The “core” of the Dark Triad: A test of competing hypotheses. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 11(2), 91-99. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/ per0000386
Vize, C. E., Lynam, D. R., Collison, K. L., & Miller, J. D. (2018). Differences among Dark Triad components: A meta-analytic investigation. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment, 9(2), 101–111. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000222
West, S. G., Taylor, A. B., & Wu, W. (2012). Model fit and model selection in structural equation modeling. In R. H. Hoyle (Ed.), Handbook of Structural Equation Modeling (pp. 209–231). Guilford Press.