Psychometric Properties of the Polish Adaptation of the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4‐PL)

The Dark Triad is a very popular construct in Polish psychology. Enriching the Triad with another variable, sadism, significantly expands the research in this field. The main aim of the presented study was to determine the psychometric properties of the Short Dark Tetrad (SD4), adapting it to Polish, exploring the factor structure, determining reliability and external validity, and correlating it with age and gender. For this purpose, 1188 individuals were studied (age range 18-78; M age = 25.50; SD = 10.50); with 858 females (72.2%), 324 males (27.3%), and 6 persons identifying as nonbinary, other genders (0.5%). The results indicate a factor structure not fully similar to the original, with the exception of the Narcissism and Psychopathy scales (six instead of seven items) and Sadism (three instead of seven items). However, the factor structure appeared to fit the model and was found to be significant. The reliability analysis indicated satisfactory scores. Correlation analyses confirmed the external consistency of the Dark Tetrad components with their full-length instruments. In spite of the difference between the final structure of the questionnaire in the Polish version and the original version, the adapted SD4 questionnaire can be successfully used in research, thus expanding the research possibilities in the Polish sample.