Latent profiles of the Dark Triad: Further person-centered exploration

Abstract

Person-centered approaches may offer unique insight into the nature of the Dark Triad by considering how the traits of Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy, which are present alongside a general D factor, combine. Yet, little past work has leveraged person-centered methods, like latent profile analysis (LPA), adequately. In this work, we focus on responses from 11,394 individuals to the Dirty Dozen measure of the Dark Triad. After using bifactor exploratory structural equation modeling (B-ESEM) we identified four distinct profiles of the Dark Triad: Self-Absorbed, Exploiter, Manipulator, and Troublemaker, which partially aligned with the previous findings of McLarnon (2022). We also explored how age and sex predicted profile membership, and how the profiles were differentially associated with vulnerable narcissism, self-centeredness, and rejection sensitivity. Our findings underscore the potential value of using person-centered approaches to study the Dark Triad and offer insight into the generalizability, construct validity, and nomological network of the Dark Triad profiles.