Dark Triad Among University Students: The Predictive Roles of HEXACO Personality Traits

The importance of addressing the relationships between Dark Triad traits and HEXACO personality traits as opposite poles is often emphasized in literature. On the other hand, it was observed that Dark Triad traits have not been examined sufficiently within the framework of the HEXACO model of personality among university students in Turkey. In this context, the purpose of this study was to explore the extent in which HEXACO personality traits (openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness, emotionality, conscientiousness and honesty-humility) predicted Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) levels of university students in Turkey. The sample of the study was comprised of 388 (250 Female, 138 Male) undergraduate students registered in diverse departments of a private university in the academic year of 2017-2018. Two instruments, namely, Short Dark Triad Scale and HEXACO Personality Inventory were utilized in the study. Simple correlation and multiple regression analyses were applied to analyze the research data. The results of the study showed that honesty-humility, openness to experience, emotionality and agreeableness were the significant predictors of both Machiavellianism and psychopathy tendencies of university students in Turkey. On the other hand, extraversion, honesty-humility, conscientiousness and openness to experience had significant predictive roles on the narcissistic tendencies of university students in Turkey. The present study also demonstrated that both honesty-humility and openness to experience among six HEXACO factors were significant predictors of all Dark Triad personalities of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. However, the HEXACO factors of emotionality and agreeableness were significant negative predictors of two Dark Triad traits of Machiavellianism and psychopathy, while extraversion and conscientiousness were significant positive predictors of narcissism only. Implications of the study findings were discussed, and some suggestions were submitted for additional research and implementation.