Dorian Gray without his portrait: Psychological, social, and physical
health costs associated with the Dark Triad q
Peter K. Jonason a,⇑, Holly M. Baughman b, Gregory L. Carter c, Phillip Parker d
a University of Western Sydney, Australia
b University of Western Ontario, Canada
c University of Durham, United Kingdom
d Australian Catholic University, Australia
a r t i c l e i n f o
Article history:
Received 6 January 2015
Accepted 8 January 2015
Available online 2 February 2015
Keywords:
Narcissism
Psychopathy
Machiavellianism
Dark Triad
Psychosocial health
a b s t r a c t
We examined how the Dark Triad (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) traits—as
different social strategies—were associated with various health outcomes. In samples of American
undergraduates (N = 1389), Australian high school students (N = 2023), and British undergraduates
(N = 280), we examined the physical, social, and psychological costs associated with the Dark Triad traits.
Narcissism was linked to few mental and physical ailments, suggesting it may provide a social buffer
from negative health outcomes (Studies 1 and 2). Psychopathy (Studies 1 and 2) and Machiavellianism
(Study 2) were linked to a number of psychological and physical health conditions. In addition, psychopathy was related to diminished life expectancy, whereas narcissism was related to enhanced life
expectancy (Study 3). Our findings provide evidence that each of these personality traits is linked to
various psychosocial tradeoffs and different methods of coping with stress and adaptive problems.
2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction
The Picture of Dorian Gray (Wilde, 2009) details the life of a man
who, upon realizing he can do anything he wants without any penalty, engages in, what evolutionary psychologists and behavioral
ecologists would call a ‘‘fast’’ life strategy (Figueredo et al., 2006;
Jonason, Webster, Schmitt, Li, & Crysel, 2012; Rushton, 1985). This
fast life strategy is characterized by drug use, casual sex, and interpersonal aggression; engaging in these behaviors with seemingly
little consequence. However, the damage to his body and mind
are offset to a portrait of himself, creating a grossly disfigured
and syphilitic shadow of the man he once was. For most people
however, engaging in such behaviors may translate into diminished social, psychological, and physical health. In this study, we
examine how engaging in the particular life history strategies that
characterize people high on the Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism,
psychopathy, and Machiavellianism)—traits that somewhat reflect
the character of Dorian Gray—may be related to various health
outcomes.
There is a long history of research dedicated to linking personality traits, such as the Dark Triad, to various health outcomes.
However, most of this work is descriptive in nature and focuses
on the idea of ‘‘co-morbidity’’ (Friedman & Kern, 2014;
Jakovljevic´ & Ostojic´, 2013). Although this concept dominates
health psychology models of personality, it is based on an atheoretical research tradition. As such, we propose an alternative view
of the relationships between personality traits and health outcomes. From an evolutionary perspective, personality traits reflect
underlying social strategies that individuals engage in (Nettle,
2007). More specifically, evolutionary models of personality focus
on the tradeoffs an individual must make between immediate
and delayed gains, as well as the costs associated with engaging
in a particular life strategy (Buss, 2009; Jonason, Koenig, & Tost,
2010). For instance, engaging in casual sex may come with costs
of unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections. We
do not contend that individuals make these tradeoffs consciously,
but instead, costs are naturally occurring features linked to engaging in any one approach to solving adaptive and social challenges.
The Dark Triad traits (Jonason, Li, Webster, & Schmitt, 2009;
Paulhus & Williams, 2002) are characterized by entitlement,
superiority, dominance (i.e., narcissism), glib social charm,
manipulativeness (i.e., Machiavellianism), callous social attitudes,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2015.01.008
0191-8869/ 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
q The authors thank Samuel Gosling for access to the data for Study 1, Joseph
Ciarocchi and Sarah Marshall for data in Study 2 that was part of a grant from the
Australian Research Council, and assistance from Katherine Howarth and Anne
Campbell with the statistical analyses in Study 3.
⇑ Corresponding author at: School of Social Sciences and Psychology, University
of Western Sydney, Milperra, NSW 2214, Australia.
E-mail address: [email protected] (P.K. Jonason).
Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13
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impulsivity, and interpersonal antagonism (i.e., psychopathy).
Despite the overlap between the traits, it is clear each have their
own unique interpersonal and intrapersonal correlates, all of
which are indicative of the different approaches to life those
characterized by each trait engage in. Therefore, we make general
and specific predictions below.
We expect the Dark Triad traits will be correlated with
individual differences in psychological (e.g., anxiety), social (e.g.,
attachment), and physical health (e.g., general health). In this study
we cast a wide net to detect the various health outcomes linked to
the Dark Triad traits. This is based on the view that dysfunction
occurs in multiple domains, rather than in a single domain. In
reference to ‘‘social’’ factors, the Dark Triad traits are related to
attachment dysfunctions (Jonason, Lyons, & Bethell, 2014), which
may cause problems with other social factors (e.g., social skills),
and therefore we might expect associations with both. In reference
to ‘‘psychological’’ factors, if we treat non-clinical depression and
anxiety as individual differences in mood, and subjective wellbeing, self-esteem, and hope as their converse, we might expect
associations with the Dark Triad traits. Last, in reference to physical health, both life expectancy and self-reported general health
might be associated with the Dark Triad traits.
Psychopathy is the most notorious trait of the cluster, as it is
strongly linked to criminality and is commonly studied in criminal
populations (Cleckley, 1976; Hare, 1985). Psychopathy is correlated with dysfunctional impulsivity (Jones & Paulhus, 2011),
limited self-control (Jonason & Tost, 2010), drug use (Jonason
et al., 2010), risk-taking (Adams, Luévano, & Jonason, 2014;
Crysel, Crosier, & Webster, 2013), and an exploitive mating style
(Jonason, Luévano, & Adams, 2012), all of which are linked to a
shorter life expectancy (for review see Del Guidice, 2014). It has
been linked to a wide array of socially undesirable outcomes
(Figueredo, Vásquez, Brumbach, & Schneider, 2007), which indicate
a preference for immediate gains and lead to behaviors that may
contribute to various health dysfunctions and diminished life
expectancy. Therefore, we predict that psychopathy will be
associated with various adverse health outcomes. We also test
whether individual differences in one’s life history strategy
mediate this relationship as proximal mechanisms to better test
our Life History Theory inspired predictions.
There are many conceptual similarities between Machiavellianism
and psychopathy (e.g., McHoskey, Worzel, & Szyarto, 1998; Smith
& Griffith, 1978), such as callousness, disagreeableness, and manipulativeness (Furnham, Richards, & Paulhus, 2013). However, recent
work suggests that they are distinct constructs. Machiavellianism,
unlike psychopathy, appears to embody a less impulsive and less
aggressive way of life (Jones & Paulhus, 2010; Reidy, Zeichner, &
Martinez, 2008). Indeed, some have argued that Machiavellianism
facilitates long-term strategizing (Jones & Paulhus, 2009), which
may buffer those who possess this trait from adverse health
outcomes. Nevertheless, long-term strategizing is likely to cause
stress to a certain extent (e.g., suppressing immediate needs for
long-term goals, lacking social connections), which may be evident
in health indicators. Therefore, we expect that Machiavellianism
will also be associated with poor health outcomes, however, for a
different reason than for psychopathy; not as a function of
risk-taking or a fast life strategy. This distinction might be fundamentally important from a theoretical perspective. That is, those
high on psychopathy pay for their overly immediate approach to
life, whereas those high on Machiavellianism pay for their overly
delayed approach to life.
Psychopathy and Machiavellianism may be the ‘‘darker’’ aspects
of the Dark Triad traits with their maladaptive tendencies
(Rauthmann, 2012), in addition to limited empathy (Jonason &
Krause, 2013; Jonason, Lyons, Bethell, & Ross, 2013) and disordered
attachment (Jonason et al., 2014). Like psychopathy, narcissism is
linked to a tendency to satisfy one’s immediate ego needs, while
downplaying long-term consequences (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001)
as a function of impulsivity and risk-taking (Campbell, Goodie, &
Foster, 2004; Jones & Paulhus, 2011). Narcissism may be unique
from the other traits in its ‘‘social’’ orientation; characterized by
a tendency to seek external validation and attention (Raskin &
Hall, 1979; Raskin & Terry, 1988) and high emotional intelligence
(Petrides, Vernon, Schermer, & Veselka, 2011). Unlike psychopathy
and Machiavellianism that may be associated with a tendency to
distance oneself from others (Jonason, Wee, Li, & Jackson, 2014),
narcissism may facilitate the active and passive accrual of a social
network (Jonason & Schmitt, 2012; Jonason et al., 2014). This may
act as a buffer (Cohen, 1988; Cohen & Wills, 1985; DiMatteo, 2004)
from the deleterious health outcomes that the other traits are
linked to. Indeed, narcissism is correlated with subjective
well-being (Rose & Campbell, 2004), and therefore we expect few
correlations with negative health outcomes and may even be
related to positive health outcomes and greater life expectancy.
An evolutionary model of the relationship between the Dark
Triad traits and health would also predict mediation effects
(Baron & Kenny, 1986). There are well-known sex differences in
health, especially in younger samples (Sweeting, 1995), and in
the Dark Triad traits. Men generally have poorer health than
women do (Shumaker & Hill, 1991; Verbrugge, 1989) and suffer
more physical as opposed to psychological health conditions
(Macintyre, Hunt, & Sweeting, 1996). Men are more characterized
by all three of the Dark Triad traits around the world (Jonason,
Li, & Czarna, 2013; Jonason et al., 2009) as well. Therefore, sex
differences in health variables might be, in part, a function of individual differences in the Dark Triad. That is, the Dark Triad traits
are some of the proximal mechanisms that account for negative
health outcomes. We expect these effects to be localized to men
and physical health, given the evolutionary advantage provided
by risk-taking in men and not as much in women (Figueredo
et al., 2006; Jonason et al., 2010). We also test for moderation,
but do so in an exploratory fashion and, thus, we remain agnostic
about particular effects.
In this study we attempt to understand why and how each of
the Dark Triad traits are linked to various health outcomes
including social (e.g., social skills), psychological (e.g., anxiety),
and physical (e.g., life expectancy) factors. We examine these
associations in various measures of health and the Dark Triad
traits, sampled from three English-speaking countries. Instead of
conceptualizing these relationships through a co-morbidity lens,
we propose that engaging in any one way of life has associated
health costs. In addition, we contend that individual differences
in the Dark Triad traits may account for some of the sex differences
in health outcomes.
2. Study 1
In Study 1, we assess the relationship between the Dark Triad
traits and measures of social, psychological, and physical health
in a large sample of American undergraduate students. We use various measures of health indicators, and therefore our discussion
focuses on the average health effects by reporting the average b
across all measures; comparable to a mini meta-analysis.
2.1. Method
2.1.1. Participants and procedure
One thousand three hundred eighty-nine undergraduates (33%
men), aged 18–50 years old (M = 18.88, SD = 2.15) from a southwestern American university participated in this study as part of
their introductory psychology course. The majority (46%) of the
6 P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13
sample was of European descent, with 6% of African descent, 23% of
Hispanic/Latino descent, 14% of age Asian descent, and the remainder reporting some ‘‘other’’ ethnic identity. Participants completed
an online survey as part of mass-testing session in their introductory psychology course.
2.1.2. Measures
The Dark Triad Dirty Dozen (Jonason & Webster, 2010) was used
to measure the Dark Triad traits. Participants were asked how
much they agreed (1 = disagree strongly; 5 = agree strongly) with
statements such as, ‘‘I tend to want others to admire me’’ (i.e.,
narcissism), ‘‘I tend to lack remorse’’ (i.e., psychopathy), and ‘‘I
have used deceit or lied to get my way’’ (i.e., Machiavellianism).
Items were averaged together to create an index of narcissism
(Cronbach’s a = .74), Machiavellianism (a = .70), and psychopathy
(a = .71).1
We assessed psychological health in a number of ways. First, we
used the depression and anxiety facets (Soto & John, 2009) of the
neuroticism factor of the Big Five Inventory (BFI; Benet-Martinez
& John, 1998). Participants were asked how much they agreed
(1 = disagree strongly; 5 = agree strongly) with statements such as,
‘‘Is depressed, blue’’ (i.e., depression) and ‘‘Worries a lot’’ (i.e.,
anxiety). The corresponding items were averaged to create indexes
of depression (a = .47) and anxiety (a = .77).
We also measured depression with the 10-item Center for
Epidemiological Studies on Depression Scale (Ensel, 1986;
Radloff, 1977). Participants were asked how often they ‘‘felt this
way’’ during the past week on a 4-point scale [0 = rarely or none
of the time (less than 1 day); 3 = all of the time (5–7 days)] with
statements such as ‘‘I could not get going’’ and ‘‘I felt lonely.’’ These
items were averaged to create an index of depression (a = .79).
We measured social skills with an 11-item version of the Social
Skills Assessment (Ireland & Pennebaker, 2010). Participants were
asked how much they agreed (1 = disagree strongly; 5 = agree
strongly) with statements such as ‘‘Friends say I’m a people person’’
and ‘‘When I talk with most people the conversation flows effortlessly’’. These items were averaged to create an index of social
skills (a = .85).
To measure physical health, participants were asked to rate
their health in relation to others (1 = poor; 5 = excellent) with a single-tem: ‘‘Compared to others your age, how would you rate your
health?’’ Prior research has successfully used this measure (e.g.,
Cockerham, Sharp, & Wilcox, 1983; Idler, Kasi, & Lemke, 1990;
Thomas, Kelman, Kennedy, Ahn, & Yang, 1992).
Attachment dysfunction was measured with the Experiences in
Close Relationship Scale-Short Form (Wei, Russell, Mallinckrodt, &
Vogel, 2007). Anxious and avoidant attachment were assessed by
asking participants for their agreement (1 = disagree strongly;
7 = agree strongly) with statements like ‘‘I need a lot of reassurance
that I am loved by my partner’’ (i.e., anxious) and ‘‘I try to avoid
getting too close to my partner’’ (i.e., avoidant). Responses were
averaged to create indexes of anxious attachment (a = .72) and
avoidant attachment (a = .78).
2.2. Results and discussion
Table 1 (top panel) contains descriptive statistics and sex differences for the Dark Triad traits and Table 2 (top panel) contains the
same information for health indicators. Men scored higher on the
Dark Triad traits than women did (Jonason & Webster, 2010;
Jonason et al., 2009) and reported better physical health and lower
levels of anxiety and depression (only when measured with the
BFI), diminished social skills, and greater avoidant attachment.
The sexes did not differ in anxious attachment.
In Table 3 we report the zero-order correlations between the
Dark Triad traits and indicators of physical and psychological
health. We also report the standardized regression coefficients
where the shared variance between the Dark Triad traits was
controlled for by entering them all in as predictors. Generally speaking, Machiavellianism (bMean = .05) and narcissism (bMean = .02)
were uncorrelated with the health outcomes but psychopathy
was associated with diminished health (bMean = .11, p < .01). This
confirms our hypotheses related to narcissism and psychopathy.
The correlation between psychopathy and physical health was
stronger (Fisher’s z = 2.48, p < .05) in men (r = .14, p < .01) than
women (r = .01). The correlation between psychopathy and anxious attachment was stronger (z = 2.08, p < .05) in men (r = .14,
p < .01) than in women (r = .02). The correlation between psychopathy and social skills was stronger (z = 2.24, p < .05) in men
(r = .23, p < .01) than women (r = .10). The correlation between
Machiavellianism and anxious attachment was stronger
(z = 2.17, p < .05) in men (r = .17, p < .01) than women (r = .04).
We examined the Dark Triad traits as potential mediators of sex
differences in various health indicators. Sex differences in physical
health were partially mediated (DR2 = .01, F(1, 1384) = 8.49,
p < .01) by psychopathy, whereby the sex difference (b) shrank
from .17 to .11. Sex differences in depression (as measured by
the BFI) were partially mediated (DR2 = .06, F(1, 1384) = 66.33,
p < .01) by psychopathy, whereby the sex difference (b) shrank
from .17 to .12. Sex differences in depression as measured by
the BFI were partially mediated (DR2 = .03, F(1, 1384) = 33.33,
p < .01) by Machiavellianism whereby the significant sex difference
(b) shrank from .17 to .08. Sex differences in anxiety (as
measured by the BFI) were partially mediated (DR2 = .01,
F(1, 1384) = 11.86, p < .01) by narcissism, whereby the significant
sex difference (b) rose from .23 to .25, suggesting suppression.
Sex differences in avoidant attachment were partially mediated
(DR2 = .004, F(1, 1384) = 4.18, p < .05) by Machiavellianism,
whereby the significant sex difference (b) shrank from .24 to
.09. Sex differences in avoidant attachment were partially mediated (DR2 = .01, F(1, 1384) = 5.22, p < .05) by narcissism whereby
the significant sex difference (b) shrank from .24 to .11.
3. Study 2
Although Study 1 provides insight into the associations
between the Dark Triad and psychological and physical health, it
Table 1
Descriptive statistics and sex differences in the Dark Triad traits in American (Study 1),
Australian (Study 2), and British samples (Study 3).
Mean (SD) t d
Overall Men Women
Study 1 (N = 1389)
Machiavellianism 2.99 (0.78) 3.09 (0.85) 2.93 (0.73) 3.30** 0.22
Psychopathy 2.16 (0.80) 2.43 (0.82) 2.01 (0.75) 8.75** 0.52
Narcissism 3.38 (0.73) 3.51 (0.68) 3.30 (0.75) 4.52** 0.27
Study 2 (N = 2023)
Machiavellianism 1.90 (0.84) 2.02 (0.88) 1.77 (0.79) 6.79** 0.29
Psychopathy 2.13 (0.78) 2.26 (0.78) 2.02 (0.77) 6.95** 0.31
Narcissism 2.52 (0.74) 2.59 (0.76) 2.45 (0.72) 4.35** 0.19
Study 3 (N = 280)
Machiavellianism 3.11 (0.53) 3.36 (0.67) 3.07 (0.49) 2.91** 0.49
Psychopathy 1.94 (0.50) 2.34 (0.59) 1.86 (0.44) 5.17** 0.92
Narcissism 2.71 (0.56) 2.92 (0.68) 2.68 (0.52) 2.29* 0.39
d is Cohen’s d for effect size.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
1 Machiavellianism was correlated with psychopathy (r(1215) = .38, p < .01) and
narcissism (r(1210) = 0.39, p < .01), and narcissism was correlated with psychopathy
(r(1211) = 0.13, p < .01).
P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13 7
is based on data from American college students and uses one
conceptualization of the Dark Triad. Therefore, we sought to
replicate the links between the Dark Triad traits with indicators
of psychological and physical health in a sample of Australian secondary school students from New South Wales and Queensland
(i.e., Australia). We use a face-valid measure of the Dark Triad,
designed to assess these traits in adolescents. We focus on the
bigger picture by reporting the overall associations in the withinstudy, mini meta-analysis (i.e., bMean) and provide the particulars
in the Tables.
3.1. Method
3.1.1. Participants and procedure
The sample consisted of 2023 Grade 10 adolescents attending
Catholic High Schools in two states of Australia.2 The mean age of
participants was (M = 15.61, SD = 0.45) with an even sex distribution
of girls (49%) and boys (51%). The majority (90%) reported being of
European descent, 1% was Aboriginal, and the remaining participants
were from some ‘‘other’’ ethnic group. Participation required school,
parental, and student consent. Questionnaires were completed
anonymously in class.
3.1.2. Measures
The Dark Triad traits have rarely been studied in populations
under 18 years of age. We wanted to avoid the assumption that traditional measures would be sufficient for adolescents because (1)
prior measures assume college-level reading comprehension and
(2) validation of prior measures were completed with those over
18 years of age. We developed3 16 indicators (see Appendix A) of
the three traits and subjected them to data-reduction and structural
assessments; items that were based on the Dirty Dozen measure
(Jonason & Webster, 2010).4 Participants were asked how much they
agreed (1 = not at all; 5 = very much) with each item. After excluding
problematic reverse-scored items, we ran an exploratory structural
equation model (ESEM) which provided a three dimensional fit
for the items (v2(75) = 454, RMSEA = .05, CFI = .95, TLI = .92).
Psychopathy was correlated with narcissism (r(2021) = .34, p < .01),
and Machiavellianism (r(2021) = .39, p < .01). Narcissism was correlated with Machiavellianism (r(2021) = .52, p < .01). Average standardized target factor loadings were moderate for all factors
(i.e., .22–.46) and in all cases higher than the non-target loadings
(i.e., .06–.20). The indicators of narcissism (Cronbach’s a = .68),
psychopathy (a = .59), and Machiavellianism (a = .85) had reasonable-to-good internal consistency. There was strong evidence of
measurement invariance in configural (v2(150) = 525, RMSEA = .05,
CFI = .95, TLI = .92), weak factorial (v2(189) = 563, RMSEA = .05,
CFI = .95, TLI = .94), strong factorial (v2(202) = 624, RMSEA = .05,
CFI = .94, TLI = .93), and strict factorial (v2(218) = 672, RMSEA = .05,
CFI = .94, TLI = .93) models across the sexes. We also replicated sex
differences in the Dark Triad traits (Table 1, middle panel). Taken
together, we are confident in our ability to test our predictions
regarding health and the Dark Triad.
Table 2
Descriptive statistics and sex differences for indicators of physical and psychological health in American (Study 1), Australian (Study 2), and British samples (Study 3).
Mean (SD) t d
Overall Men Women
Study 1 (N = 1389)
Physical health 2.76 (0.83) 2.87 (0.80) 2.71 (0.84) 3.39** 0.19
Depression (CES-D) 1.02 (0.56) 1.02 (0.56) 1.02 (0.56) 0.01 0.00
Depression (BFI) 2.85 (0.94) 2.74 (0.96) 2.91 (0.92) 2.87** 0.17
Anxiety 3.06 (0.92) 2.77 (0.87) 3.21 (0.91) 7.94** 0.47
Anxious attachment 3.79 (1.06) 3.82 (1.11) 3.76 (1.04) 0.81 0.05
Avoidant attachment 3.04 (1.07) 3.20 (0.98) 2.96 (1.08) 3.80** 0.22
Social skills 3.61 (0.69) 3.55 (0.65) 3.65 (0.63) 2.64** 0.16
Study 2 (N = 2023)
General Health Questionnaire 1.96 (0.47) 1.87 (0.42) 2.05 (0.50) 10.39** 0.39
Hope 4.18 (0.84) 4.29 (0.80) 4.08 (0.86) 6.53** 0.25
Self-esteem 0.70 (0.26) 0.76 (0.22) 0.64 (0.28) 12.72** 0.48
Emotional Well-being 4.71 (1.14) 4.80 (1.10) 4.62 (1.17) 3.54** 0.16
Psychological Well-being 4.33 (1.04) 4.40 (1.05) 4.25 (1.03) 3.17** 0.14
Social Well-being 3.67 (1.21) 3.85 (1.16) 3.49 (1.23) 6.61** 0.30
Study 3 (N = 280)
Life Expectancy 87.08 (9.82) 80.17 (9.51) 88.43 (9.32) 5.48** 0.88
K-score 5.38 (0.59) 4.99 (0.62) 5.45 (0.55) 5.01** 0.78
Overall risk-taking 1.59 (0.53) 1.83 (0.76) 1.54 (0.46) 3.48** 0.46
Frequency of smoking 1.33 (0.84) 1.61 (1.11) 1.28 (0.77) 1.94 0.35
Drinking alcohol 2.02 (0.68) 2.13 (0.93) 2.00 (0.62) 0.91 0.16
Dangerous sex/intravenous drug use 1.41 (0.89) 1.76 (1.29) 1.34 (0.79) 2.13* 0.39
Seatbelt wearing 3.72 (0.66) 3.61 (0.77) 3.75 (0.64) 1.31 0.19
Sunscreen use 2.48 (0.89) 1.85 (0.82) 2.59 (0.86) 5.46** 0.78
d is Cohen’s d for effect size.
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
Table 3
Associations between the Dark Triad traits and indicators of physical and psychological health in American undergraduates (Study 1).
r (b)
Health indicators Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism
Physical health .02 (.02) .07* (.07*) .04 (.06)
Depression (CES-D) .13** (.06) .19** (.16**) .04 (.01)
Depression (BFI) .16** (.09**) .22** (.19**) .07* (.01)
Anxiety (BFI) .02 (.01) .05 (.06*) .07* (.07*)
Anxious attachment .13** (.03) .10** (.07*) .21** (.19**)
Avoidant attachment .06* (.03) .21** (.22**) .06* (.09**)
Social skills .09** (.15**) .20** (.27**) .13** (.10**)
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
2 Catholic Schools account for nearly 21.5% of all secondary schools in Australia
(ABS, 2012).
3 More detail available upon request.
4 We were unable to use the Dirty Dozen itself as per requirements from the
approving Institutional Review Board.
8 P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13
Global self-esteem was measured using the 10-item
Rosenberg’s (1965) self-esteem scale. Participants were asked
yes/no questions regarding their agreement with statements such
as, ‘‘I feel that I am a person of value-equal to most kids my age’’
and ‘‘generally I feel satisfied with myself’’. Items were summed
in order to create an overall index of health (a = .88). The Rosenberg self-esteem scale includes six negatively worded items and
thus there were possibilities of negative item wording effects. This
was controlled for by using a priori correlated residuals.
We assessed hope with the 8-item Snyder Hope Scale (Snyder
et al., 1991). Participants were asked to indicate their agreement
(1 = none of the time; 6 = all of the time) with statements such as
‘‘I energetically pursue my goals’’ and ‘‘I can think of many ways
to get out of a jam’’. Items were averaged to create an overall score
(a = .90). The scale items assess the agency aspects of hope (e.g., ‘‘I
have been pretty successful in life’’) as well as pathways hope (e.g.,
‘‘I can think of ways to get the things in life that are most important
to me’’). In the present research we were primarily interested in
the global aspect of hope (see also Brouwer, Mejir, Weekers, &
Baneke, 2008). However, the items from the same sub-factors are
likely to have some covariance independent from the variance
explained by the global components. This can lead to model misfit
and potentially contribute to parameter estimate bias. Thus, we
controlled for this potential misfit by using a priori correlated
residuals between the agency items, and between the pathway
items (see Marsh et al., 2013).
Participants’ health was measured using the 12-item General
Health Questionnaire (Goldberg & Hiller, 1979). Participants
reported their agreement (1 = strongly disagree; 4 = strongly agree)
with items regarding their health over a two-week period. Items
were either positively-worded (e.g., ‘‘been able to concentrate on
whatever you are doing‘‘) or negatively-worded (e.g., ‘‘been feeling
unhappy and depressed’’). Items were summed in order to create
an overall index of health (a = .90) where higher scores mean more
health problems. The GHQ includes six negatively worded items
and thus there were possibilities of negative item wording effects.
This was controlled for using a priori correlated residuals.
Subjective well-being was assessed using the 12-item Child
Development Supplement-II (Keyes, 2005, 2006). Items assess
emotional (a = .90), psychological (a = .82) and social (a = .86)
well-being. Participants are asked about experiences they have
had in the past month (1 = never; 5 = every day), such as, ‘‘How
often have you felt happy?’’ (i.e., Emotional), ‘‘How often did you
feel good at managing the responsibilities of your daily life?’’
(i.e., Psychological) and ‘‘How often did you feel that people are
basically good?’’ (i.e., Social).
3.2. Results and discussion
We used ESEM as a general approach to test construct validity,
multigroup invariance of this measure across participant’s sex, and
structural relationships between groups of latent variables
(Asparouhov & Muthén, 2009; Dolan, Oort, Stoel, & Wicherts,
2009; Morin, Marsh, & Nagengast, 2013). Presented here are the
results from a series of ESEMs with robust weighted least squares
(Muthén & Muthén, 2013) and full-information-maximum-likelihood to provide a principled approach to missing data (Enders,
2010) in which the three Dark Triad factors predicted mental
health and well-being. These models suggest the Dark Triad fit
the data for self-esteem (v2(321) = 1313, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .95,
TLI = .93), hope (v2(208) = 893, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .96, TLI = .94),
health (v2(303) = 1066, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .96, TLI = .95), and subjective well-being (v2(291) = 1248, RMSEA = .04, CFI = .95,
TLI = .94); standardized regression coefficients are presented in
Table 4. Narcissism (bMean = .30, p < .01) was consistently associated with positive mental health and well-being attributions (with
the exception of affective empathy), and Machiavellianism
(bMean = .31, p < .01) was consistently linked to poorer mental
health and well-being outcomes (with the exception of affective
empathy). While psychopathy generally predicted poor health
(bMean = .09, p < .05) outcomes, Machiavellianism predicted even
worse outcomes.
In Tables 1 and 2 (middle panels) we report descriptive statistics and sex differences. We replicated sex differences in the Dark
Triad traits; with magnitudes that were similar to prior studies
with other measures (Jonason et al., 2009, 2013), which implicitly
validates our ad hoc measure of the Dark Triad traits among youths.
Women were generally healthier than men were and men
appeared to suffer from more psychological and social ailments
than women did. These sex differences were mediated by the Dark
Triad traits but these effects were all small (R2s = .04–.07) suggesting that dark aspects of personality account for only a small portion of the sex differences in health of adolescents. Being bad as
embodied in these traits may not be all that important on its on
in predicting health in Australian teens.
4. Study 3
Studies 1 and 2 relied on a variety of measures to assess the
links between the Dark Triad traits and health. These measures
could be criticized for being too general and simply replicating
(and extending) prior studies. Moreover, we used contentious
(Study 1) and untested (Study 2) measures of the Dark Triad.
Therefore, we examine the Dark Triad traits in relation to life
expectancy and health-related behaviors using an alternative measure of the former (Jones & Paulhus, 2014). We predicted that the
fast life strategy linked to psychopathy would be related to lower
life expectancy (Del Guidice, 2014). However, Machiavellianism
is not well linked to this fast life strategy (Jones & Paulhus,
2009), and therefore we did not expect it to be associated with life
expectancy, particularly so when the shared variance with psychopathy is controlled for. Given the value that those high in narcissism place on social connections (Bogart, Benotsch, & Pavlovic,
2004), it is possible that narcissism may be linked to enhanced life
expectancy despite the reasons they may desire others in their
lives.
4.1. Method
4.1.1. Participants and procedure
Two hundred and eighty individuals (16% men), aged 17–58
(M = 20.21, SD = 4.90) completed a battery of online questionnaires
which included measures of the Dark Triad, life expectancy, healthrelated attitudes and behaviors, and life history. They were primarily recruited through the University of Durham (U.K.) internal participant pool advertising board; students were given course credit
for their participation.
4.1.2. Measures
To measure the Dark Triad, we used the Short-Dark Triad (Jones
& Paulhus, 2014). Participants indicated agreement (1 = strongly
disagree; 5 = strongly agree) of 27 statements such as ‘‘People see
me as a natural leader’’ (i.e., narcissism), ‘‘Most people can be
manipulated’’ (i.e., Machiavellianism), and ‘‘Payback needs to be
quick and nasty’’ (i.e., psychopathy). Items were averaged to create
indices of narcissism (Cronbach’s a = .73), Machiavellianism
(a = .68), and psychopathy (a = .70).5
5 Narcissism was correlated with Machiavellianism (r(278) = .28, p < .01) and
psychopathy (r(278) = .37, p < .01). Machiavellianism was correlated with psychopathy (r(278) = .48, p < .01).
P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13 9
We assessed participants’ expected lifespans with the AMP
Longevity Calculator (AMP, 2013). The 33-item longevity calculator
is provided by AMP, an antipodean financial services company that
offers life insurance to clients. AMP has been measuring the lifespan of its clients relative to their behaviors for more than
150 years; this calculator is based on metrics derived from that
information. Items include questions that assess Body Mass Index
(i.e., BMI), hereditary disease, stress, exercise, diet, driving and
workplace behaviors, educational levels, toxin consumption (e.g.,
alcohol/tobacco/recreational drugs), and living habits (e.g., location). Participants were asked to fill in this calculator and report
their anticipated life expectancy.
We assessed participants’ health-related behaviors with the Living to 100 Life Expectancy Calculator (Perls, 2013). The calculator
was developed from the on-going New England Centenarian study
run by Boston University School of Medicine. It is the largest of its
kind, globally. Participants were asked how often (1 = not at all;
5 = regularly) they engaged in various risk factors (see Table 5).
We wanted to also measure latent risk-taking based on these
items. When we ran a Principle Components Analysis with various
rotations we continued to find a two-factor solution. The second
factor was exclusively composed of the reversed-keyed items;
and recoding them so that high scores indicated more risk-taking
failed to align all the items. Therefore, we dropped these two items
(i.e., sunscreen, seatbelts) and re-ran our analyses with the remaining three items (i.e., risky sex, drug use, and alcohol). In this Principle Components Analysis (with a varimax rotation) we found one
factor that explained 43.54% of the variance (Eigen = 1.31) with
factor loadings between .58 and .67. We averaged these items to
create an overall risk-taking measure.
We used the Mini-K Short Form (Figueredo, Cabeza de Baca, &
Woodley, 2013) to measure life ‘‘speed’’ (r–K). The 20-item
Mini-K is the shortened form of the 199-item Arizona Life History
Battery (Figueredo, 2007). Participants indicate agreement
(3 = disagree Strongly; +3 = agree Strongly) with statements
such as ‘‘I avoid taking risks’’. Higher scores indicate a ‘‘slower’’
(high-K) life history strategy (a = .75).
4.2. Results and discussion
Table 1 (bottom panel) contains descriptive statistics and sex
differences for the Dark Triad traits and Table 2 (bottom panel)
contains the same information for health indicators. In respect to
the Dark Triad traits, men scored higher than women in narcissism,
Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. Women also reported a
higher life expectancy than men did, reflecting sex differences in
this figure for the U.K. (Office for National Statistics, 2011), and
cross-culturally (World Bank, 2013). For unhealthy behaviors,
hardly any sex differences emerged. The only differences to
achieve significance were men’s more frequent engagement with
unprotected sex and injection-based (i.e., intravenous) drug use,
and women’s greater use of sunscreen. In respect of life history
theory, women had a ‘‘slower’’ life strategy and reported less
risk-taking than men did.
Table 5 contains zero-order correlations between the Dark Triad
traits, life expectancy, and unhealthy behaviors. It also contains
standardized regression coefficients where all three of the Dark
Triad traits were entered as predictors to control for their shared
variance. As expected by life history theory, K-scores and risktaking were correlated (r(278) = .14, p < .05) and psychopathy
was the only part of the Dark Triad linked to K-scores and risktaking after controlling for the shared variance (Jonason et al.,
2010). Life expectancy was correlated with risk-taking (r(278) =
.30, p < .01; b = .27, p < .01) and K-scores (r(278) = .27, p < .01;
b = .24, p < .01) at the zero-order and multiple regression levels.
The associations were generally similar in men and women.
Across all variables, there were only three exceptions to the latter.
First, the correlation between narcissism and K was stronger
(z = 3.99, p < .01) in women (r = .21, p = <.01) than in men
(r = .04). Second, the correlation between narcissism and frequency of drinking was stronger (z = 3.31, p < .01) in men (r = .41,
p < .01) than it was in women (r = .06). Third, the correlation
between psychopathy and frequency of drinking was stronger
(z = 2.19, p < .05) in men (r = .41, p < .01) than in women
(r = .12). In terms of overall risk-taking, the correlation with
narcissism was stronger (z = 2.21, p < .05) in men (r = .35,
p < .01) than in women (r = .01).
We tested two sets of mediation models. First, we examined
whether sex differences in life expectancy were mediated by the
Dark Triad traits using hierarchical multiple regression (Step 1 contained participant’s sex; Step 2 included the Dark Triad traits). Step
1 was significant (R2 = .10, F(1, 278) = 22.99, p < .01) as was Step 2
(R2 = .21, F(4, 275) = 18.17, p < .01), indicating that the mediation
was significant (DR2 = .11, F(3, 275) = 12.95, p < .01). We found
Table 4
The Dark Triad traits as predictors (bs) of physical and psychological health in Australian High School students (Study 2) along with total indirect effects (R2) for mediation of sex
differences.
Health Indicators b R2
Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism
General Health Questionnaire .11* .02 .08* .05*
Hope .46** .21* .56** .06*
Self-esteem .39** .09 .41** .05*
Emotional Well-being .38** .16* .34** .06*
Psychological Well-being .46** .25** .57** .07*
Social Well-being .34** .09 .33** .04*
Note: zero-order correlations are not reported given how the Dark Triad traits were measured and the resultant statistical analyses.
*
p < .01.
**
p < .001.
Table 5
Associations between the Dark Triad traits, life expectancy, and unhealthy behaviors
in a British sample (Study 3).
Health Indicators r (b)
Machiavellianism Psychopathy Narcissism
Life expectancy .17** (.07) .29** (.37**) .13* (.29**)
K-score .26** (.12) .41** (.47**) .10* (.31**)
Overall risk-taking .02 (.18**) .32** (.39**) .14* (.05)
Frequency of smoking .03 (.19*) .25** (.35**) .43 (.04)
Drinking alcohol .02 (.11) .13* (.17*) .07 (.04)
Dangerous sex/
intravenous drug use
.09 (.05) .25** (.24**) .16* (.08)
Seatbelt wearing .08 (.04) .23** (.26**) .05 (.04)
Sunscreen use .26** (.21*) .21** (.12) .09 (.01)
*
p < .05.
**
p < .01.
10 P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13
evidence for partial mediation, whereby the sex differences (b) in
life expectancy shrank but remained significant from .31 to
.25 and it was localized to narcissism (b = .29, p < .01) and
psychopathy (b = .29, p < .01).
Second, we examined whether the associations between the
Dark Triad traits and life expectancy were mediated by individual
differences in risk-taking and life history strategy (i.e., K-scores).
This was done to test whether these two proximal factors acted
as intermediate mechanisms leading to different life expectancies.
In Step 1 we entered the Dark Triad traits and in Step 2 we entered
risk-taking and K-scores. Step 1 was significant (R2 = .16, F(3,
276) = 17.11, p < .01) as was Step 2 (R2 = .20, F(5, 274) = 14.80,
p < .01), indicated the mediation was significant (DR2 = .06, F(2,
274) = 9.70, p < .01). In Step 1, psychopathy (b = .36, p < .01) and
narcissism (b = .29, p < .01) predicted life expectancy. In Step 2,
psychopathy (b = .22, p < .01), narcissism (b = .26, p < .01),
K-scores (b = .13, p < .05), and risk-taking (b = .22, p < .01) predicted life expectancy. This suggests that both proximal factors
may account for some of the life expectancy effects linked to the
Dark Triad but there is unique variance that is not accounted for.
5. General discussion
The Dark Triad traits are a ‘‘hot topic’’ in personality psychology
(Furnham et al., 2013; Jonason, Webster, et al., 2012). Researchers
have examined various intrapersonal (Jones & Paulhus, 2011),
interpersonal (Jonason et al., 2009), and behavioral (Crysel et al.,
2013) correlates. In three studies we have examined a hitherto
understudied aspect of the Dark Triad traits; the potential health
correlates. In Studies 1 and 2, we cast a wide net of measures of
social (e.g., social skills), psychological (e.g., depression), and
physical (e.g., self-rated health) health indicators in young
Americans and Australians. In Study 3, we examined life
expectancy, risk-taking, and health-related behaviors. Although
our results are not completely consistent given the wide net we
cast, we do feel we have conceptually supported our hypotheses.
Specifically, results from all three studies suggest psychopathy
was linked to a range of indicators of health costs. For instance,
in Study 3 it was linked to lower life expectancy, more risk-taking,
and a faster life history strategy (Del Guidice, 2014). In addition,
the latter two accounted for some of the relationship between psychopathy and life expectancy. Highlighting the difference between
Machiavellianism and psychopathy, Machiavellianism was not
particularly linked to life expectancy (when controlling for shared
variance) and revealed a safe and slow approach to life (Jonason
et al., 2010; Jones & Paulhus, 2009). While Study 1 revealed a flat
correlation between Machiavellianism and health, Study 2
revealed undesirable health correlates. All studies confirmed our
predictions in relation to narcissism. It is related to few adverse
health effects and even has some favorable health outcomes. For
instance, in Study 3, narcissism was related to a longer life expectancy and a slow life history strategy.
While most might interpret these results through the standard
health psychology model of ‘‘co-morbidity’’ (Friedman & Kern,
2014; Jakovljevic´ & Ostojic´, 2013), we contend that an evolutionary
lens might provide an alternative conceptualization of the relationship between personality and health, especially in relation to the
Dark Triad. If personality traits are expressions of latent and
evolved social strategies, and social strategies are accompanied
by costs that affect individuals’ minds and bodies, then the traits
should be linked to health outcomes. Given that each trait embodies its own unique approach to life, we found evidence of differential correlations with health indicators. Psychopathy is linked to
poor health costs associated with risk-taking (Adams et al., 2014;
Crysel et al., 2013; Jonason et al., 2010) and impulsivity (Jonason
& Tost, 2010; Jones & Paulhus, 2011). Conversely, the overly ‘‘slow’’
and deliberate approach to life that Machiavellianism may embody
(Jonason et al., 2010; Jones & Paulhus, 2009), may impose its own
costs for delaying and deferring immediate needs. Lastly,
narcissism is the most ‘‘social’’ trait of the cluster, and it may suffer
fewer health costs because of the benefits of social connections
(Cohen, 1988; Cohen & Wills, 1985; DiMatteo, 2004). Importantly,
this study highlights what one would expect if they viewed the
Dark Triad traits as three distinct constructs (Jonason et al.,
2009; Paulhus & Williams, 2002).
We replicated the sex differences in the Dark Triad traits
(Jonason et al., 2009, 2013) and sex differences in health outcomes
(Macintyre et al., 1996; Piccinelli & Wilkinson, 2014; Shumaker &
Hill, 1991; Sweeting, 1995; Verbrugge, 1989). From an evolutionary perspective, these sex differences in health may be expressions
of the tradeoffs men and women make in their respective
approaches to achieving fitness outcomes (Figueredo et al.,
2006). Consistent with this, we found that women engaged in a
slower life history strategy and less risk-taking behaviors than
men did. Sex differences in health outcomes were partially
accounted for by individual differences in the Dark Triad traits.
For instance, we found that sex differences in life expectancy might
be, in part, driven by individual differences in the Dark Triad traits.
This suggests that the Dark Triad may be instrumental in predicting different health outcomes across the sexes.
6. Limitations and conclusions
While this study has a number of strengths, it also suffers from
a number of limitations. We (1) relied on weird samples (i.e., western, educated, industrialized, and democratic; Henrich, Heine, &
Norenzayan, 2010), (2) used self-report methods, (3) used various
measures (including an unvalidated, face-valid measure) to assess
the Dark Triad traits, (4) attempted to maximize breadth over
depth in the selection of our ‘‘health’’ measures, (5) suffered from
some low internal consistency for our shorter measures (but see,
Kline, 2000; Schmitt, 1996), (6) had some inconsistencies across
studies most likely caused by method error, and (7) failed to
control for social desirability effects. Nevertheless, we feel our
multimethod-multisample-multimeasure approach addresses the
modern replication crisis in social-personality psychology and, so
long as one takes a ‘‘big picture’’ view of our results, we have found
evidence consistent with our predictions. Nevertheless, we cannot
dismiss the utility of more rigorous methods in general.
There has been a recent call for new models of the relationship
between health and personality (Friedman & Kern, 2014). In this
study, we provide a preliminary answer by proposing an evolutionary framework that conceptualizes ‘‘disorders’’ as the observed
costs for engaging in various life strategies, as captured in personality traits (Buss, 2009; Nettle, 2007). As personality traits may
encourage individuals to engage in a particular life history strategy,
which comes with its own costs and benefits, our results indicate
that the social strategies embodied by the Dark Triad traits were
related to various health outcomes. In reference to Dorian Gray,
he might have done better to make friends and connect with others
to offset the costs of his lifestyle, instead of relying on a painting in
his attic.
Appendix A. Items measuring the Dark Triad traits in Study 2
A.1. Narcissism
(1) Others look up to me.
(2) I expect special favors from others.
(3) I want to be popular.
P.K. Jonason et al. / Personality and Individual Differences 78 (2015) 5–13 11
(4) I’m fashionable (e.g., have the best clothes, shoes, or other
items).
(5) I’m dominant in social situations.
(6) I like to be in charge.
A.2. Psychopathy
(1) I have trouble understanding others’ feelings.
(2) I don’t care if other people think my actions are ‘‘wrong.’’
(3) Other people’s feelings don’t matter to me.
(4) The rules don’t apply to me.
A.3. Machiavellianism
(1) I bend the truth to get what I want.
(2) I manipulate others to get my way.
(3) I use flattery to get my way.
(4) I take advantage of other people.
(5) I use people as puppets to serve my needs.
(6) I sometimes pretend to like people in order to get them to do
something for me.
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