The relationships between dark triad personality traits, anger rumination, revenge, selfishness and cyberbullying among university students

The aim of this study is to test the structural model of the relationship between Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy) personality traits, anger rumination, revenge, selfishness, and cyberbullying among university students'. Relational survey model, one of the quantitative research methods, was used in the study. The study group of the research consists of undergraduate students who were determined by random cluster sampling method and who continue their education in 11 departments within 6 faculties of Mersin University. A total of 1134 university students, 713 (63%) female and 421 (37%) male, participated in the study. The research data were obtained in the Spring semester of the 2021-2022 academic year. In addition to the "Personal Information Form" prepared by the researcher, the "Dark Triad Scale", "Revenge Scale" and "Selfishness Scale" were used as data collection tools. In addition, "Cyberbullying Perpetration and Cyberbullying Victimization Scales" and "Sadness and Anger Rumination Inventory" were adapted into Turkish within the scope of this study. After the validity and reliability studies, the "Cyberbullying Perpetration Scale" and "Anger Rumination Scale" of these scales were used as data collection tools for the model test within the scope of the research. In the analysis of the data obtained from university students, SPSS program was used to test the assumptions required for the structural equation model and the relationships between variables, and AMOS program was used to test the structural equation model. In the tested model, the significance of the direct and indirect relationships obtained as a result of path analysis was tested within a 95% confidence interval through the bootstrapping method known as the resampling method. As a result of the analyses, the model addressing the relationships between university students' Dark Triad personality traits, anger rumination, revenge and selfishness levels and cyberbullying behaviors was found statistically significant and it was observed that there were direct and indirect relationships between the relevant variables. The findings obtained from the study were discussed in the light of the relevant theoretical framework and research.