The personality profile of a cyberbully: Examining the Dark Triad

The present study examined the relationships between the Dark Triad personality traits and self-reported cyberbullying behaviors. College students (N = 227) completed a questionnaire and reported on their trait Machiavellianism, psychopathy, and narcissism, and the degree to which they cyberbullied (i.e., both visual and text based bullying) others in the past year. Correlations revealed that all three Dark Triad traits were related positively with cyberbullying. However, multiple regression analysis revealed that of the three Dark Triad traits, psychopathy emerged as the unique predictor of cyberbullying. These findings reinforce extant research suggesting that personality traits are important predictors of computer-mediated behavior. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.