Good Traits, Bad Traits, and ‘Ugly’ Behavior: Relations between the Dark Triad, Honesty-Humility, Other HEXACO Personality Traits, and Externalizing Problems in Adolescents

Abstract

The present study investigated the relative contributions of the Dark Triad, honesty-humility, and other HEXACO traits to externalizing problems in young people. One-hundred-and-six adolescents aged between 12 and 18 years completed an online survey containing the Dirty Dozen for Youth as an index of the Dark Triad traits of psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and narcissism, the HEXACO-Middle School Inventory to assess honesty-humility as well as five other basic personality factors, and the Youth Self-Report to measure symptoms of oppositional-defiant disorder (ODD) and conduct disorder (CD). Results first of all showed that the Dark Triad traits were positively correlated with symptoms of ODD and CD, while the HEXACO factor of honesty-humility was negatively correlated with such symptoms. Further, both types of externalizing problems were associated with a unique set of personality correlates. More precisely, ODD symptoms were predicted by higher psychopathy and lower agreeableness and extraversion, while CD symptoms were predicted by higher psychopathy (and to some extent Machiavellianism) and lower honesty-humility, extraversion, and emotionality. It is concluded that the study of the role of temperament and personality in externalizing problems should take a broad perspective that includes malevolent and benevolent traits from various theoretical models.

Using the HEXACO to explain the structure of borderline and psychopathic personality traits

“…Psychopathy is characterized by low effect (suggesting lower Emotionality), a tendency to use violence and intimidation (suggesting low Agreeableness), avoidance of responsibility (low Conscientiousness), and a tendency to exploit or take advantage of others (low Honesty-Humility). Previous research supports these theoretical links, and we expected to further replicate these results (Book et al, 2015(Book et al, , 2016Mularczyk et al, 2020;Muris et al, 2022).…”

“…Normative personality has long been studied using models such as the Big Five that provide insight into the structure and conceptualization of traits that might be considered "abnormal". Indeed, this method has allowed for a better understanding of a variety of problematic personality traits and the ways in which they overlap (Book et al, 2015(Book et al, , 2016Hilbig et al, 2020;Miller et al, 2001;Miller & Lynam, 2015;Mularczyk et al, 2020;Muris et al, 2022). The Big 5 comprised five factors: Openness to experience, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and Neuroticism.…”

“…Given the value of the HEXACO model (particularly Honesty-Humility) in predicting problematic personality traits (Ashton et al, 2012), the purpose of the current study was to determine whether the HEXACO model would similarly account for variability in borderline traits. Although the HEXACO model of personality has been studied with psychopathic (Book et al, 2015(Book et al, , 2016Hodson et al, 2009;Mularczyk et al, 2020;Muris et al, 2022) and borderline personality traits (Hepp et al, 2014), this is only the second study to examine borderline and psychopathic traits in the same sample (Hilbig et al, 2020). As well, we seek to deal with a methodological issue in the Hepp et al (2014) study.…”

Construction and preliminary validation of an inconsistent responding scale for the HEXACO-100.

“…personality disorder (Miskewicz et al, 2022;Thielmann et al, 2014), and externalizing disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder (Muris et al, 2022). A PsycINFO search indicated that since 2000, there have been over 2,700 citations to the HEXACO model, with the greatest number of citations in the past 5 years.…”

“…The honesty–humility scale is particularly useful in the study of antagonistic personality traits and disorders (Book et al, 2015). As a result, the HEXACO has been applied to research examining psychopathy (Marcus et al, 2019; Ruchensky & Donnellan, 2017), narcissism (Bresin & Gordon, 2011), borderline personality disorder (Miskewicz et al, 2022; Thielmann et al, 2014), and externalizing disorders such as oppositional defiant disorder and conduct disorder (Muris et al, 2022). A PsycINFO search indicated that since 2000, there have been over 2,700 citations to the HEXACO model, with the greatest number of citations in the past 5 years.…”