Spanish
Huelva (Spain).- An international team of researchers from the University of Huelva (southern Spain), Agri Ibrahim Çeçen University (Turkey) and King Abdulaziz University (Saudi Arabia) has designed and validated the Toxic Personality Scale (TPS) to measure "toxic personality traits".
This is, according to the study, published in the 'Psychology: Reflection and Criticism' journal, the first specific measurement tool designed to scientifically evaluate the traits and behaviors that damage interpersonal relationships and the well-being of others.
The study comes to fill a void in clinical psychology, since until now, research had focused on the so-called "Dark Triad" (narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy), but the authors emphasize a fundamental difference: while the Dark Triad focuses on manipulation for self-benefit, the toxic personality's main objective is the destruction of the other person's self-esteem.
For the development of the scale, two studies were conducted with samples of young Turkish adults, totaling more than 500 participants. The results yielded technical keys such as the unidimensional structure of the scale, which consists of six elements that directly measure the construct of toxicity; or its high reliability, as the analysis showed a solid internal consistency, with Cronbach's alpha coefficients between 0.80 and 0.82.
In general, the results suggest that the TPS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing toxic personality traits in young adults.
"The TPS is a practical and brief tool, which facilitates its use in large-scale investigations and in clinical settings where time is a critical factor," the researchers highlight in the report.
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The study warns that the perception of toxicity is not universal and is strongly influenced by the social context. In the case of the Turkish sample analyzed, collectivist values and hierarchical structures play a determining role. Therefore, they advocate interpreting these findings within the cultural context in which the scale was developed. Given that research on toxic personality is still relatively nascent, they understand that TPS has the potential to significantly boost this field. Future studies using the TPS along with other established personality measures, such as the Dark Triad or the Big Five Personality Traits, could provide a better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of toxic personality. Finally, the need to use more diverse samples and more complex analysis techniques in the future is pointed out to strengthen the robustness of the tool.
