The utility of the Dark Triad model in the prediction of the self-reported and behavioral risk-taking behaviors among adolescents

Marta Malesza , Paweł Ostaszewski

Abstract

Associations among the Dark Triad (psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism) using a self-report risk measure (i.e., Adolescent Risk-taking Questionnaire) and two behavioral tasks (i.e., Balloon Analog Risk task and Probability Discounting task) were examined to assess risk taking in 248 adolescents. Two dark personality traits, narcissism and psychopathy, have been shown to be significantly predictive of adolescent risk behaviors. This was found to be the case for self-reported risk behaviors, as well as for different behaviorally based risk types. Contrary, Machiavellianism was unrelated to either type of risk-taking assessment. Reliably, these results suggest that darker personality variables may prove valuable in understanding risk-taking behaviors in adolescents.