Research Article
Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale: Development, Validation, and Reliability
https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3565477/v1
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This research introduces the Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale (DTPS-33), a 33-item instrument designed to measure Machiavellianism, Narcissism, and Psychopathy. Developed by Deen Mohd in 2015, the scale underwent content validation by psychology professors and was tested on a sample of 23 students. The study aimed to assess the reliability and validity of the scale through statistical analysis.
The Dark Triad is the theory or concept of how dark the personality of an individual may be, comprising Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Delroy L. Paulhus and Kevin M. Williams in 2002 in a paper coined the work Dark Traid in which they focused on the dark side of personality represents a cluster of socially undesirable personality traits. The paper submitted by these two researchers led to an acknowledgment or realization of the necessity to develop a valid and reliable measurement of these distinct but correlated personality traits. Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale (DTPS-33) was developed in 2015, consisting of 33 statements with responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. This research aims to validate and establish the reliability of the DTPS-33 through a study conducted on 23 students.
The study included 23 students comprising both first-year and final-year students with ages ranging from 21 and 23. The gender distribution included 10 female and 13 male students. The participants were from different academic backgrounds.
The development of the Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale (DTPS-33) began with an in-depth review of these three personality traits Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy. Most of the statements included in the scale were generated based on common traits associated with the Dark Triad.
A panel of psychology professors from Degree College Kulgam and experts in other fields such as sociology and education reviewed the initial pool of items. Their feedback was instrumental in refining the wording of items to ensure clarity and alignment with the intended constructs.
A pilot test was conducted with a small group of final-year psychology students (they were not included in the main study) to assess the initial clarity, comprehensibility, and relevance of the items. The final-year students provided feedback on any confusing or unclear statements, leading to further refinements.
The Likert scale-styled responses were implemented, Likert scale is a widely used psychometric assessment, that allows participants to express nuanced responses ranging from "Strongly Disagree" to "Strongly Agree.". Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale (DTPS-33)
By utilizing the Likert scale responses Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was conducted to evaluate the underlying structure of the DTPS-33.
This statistical technique helped identify underlying factors and refine the scale to ensure it captured the distinct aspects of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy.
Based on the factor analysis results, items that did not contribute significantly to the differentiation of the Dark Triad traits were removed.
To assess the internal consistency of the DTPS-33, Cronbach's alpha coefficient was calculated. This coefficient, measuring the scale's reliability, exceeded 0.85, indicating a high level of consistency in participant responses.
Descriptive statistics were calculated for each item on the Deenz Dark Triad Personality Scale (DTPS-33) based on the responses from the 23 participants. The mean scores and standard deviations for each trait (Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy) are presented in Table 1.
|
Trait |
Mean Score |
Standard Deviation |
|
Machiavellianism |
3.75 |
0.82 |
|
Narcissism |
4.12 |
0.68 |
|
Psychopathy |
3.60 |
0.91 |
To assess the validity of the DTPS-33, correlation coefficients were calculated between the scale scores and scores from a well-established Dark Triad measurement tool Short Dark Triad (SD3). The results are summarized in Table 2.
|
Scale |
Correlation with Established Scale |
|
Machiavellianism |
0.78 |
|
Narcissism |
0.85 |
|
Psychopathy |
0.72 |
The high positive correlations indicate a significant relationship between the DTPS-33 and the established scale, suggesting strong concurrent validity.
Reliability was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha coefficient. The internal consistency of the DTPS-33 was found to be 0.88, demonstrating a high level of reliability across the scale items.
Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.
Approval was granted by the Ethics committee, of GMC Srinagar (IECGMCJ). Ref:- Letter No.443477-5/10/2015 dated 5/10/2015
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