Testing the Validity and Reliability of Machiavellianism Scale for Adolescents in a Turkish Speaking

Abstract

Machiavvellianism is a personality trait which includes insincerity, callaousness and dishonesty. Although it was mainly studied by the literature of Psychopathology for a long time, Machiavvellianism is accepted as a trait which ordinary people has or must have, especially in competetive and extremely individualistic systems. Therefore this concept must also be studied in normal populations. Accordingly, the main aim of this research was to test the reliability and validity of Kiddie Mach (Christie, & Geis, 1970) in a Turkish speaking adolescent sample. A total of 471 adolescents (242 female, 225 male, 4 missing) were recruited for the study. The age range of the sample was 15-17 (Mean= 16.7, SD=.61). Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses indicated that scale had two dimensions. Two different analyzes were conducted to test the construct validity. First the extreme scores were compared for each subscale with t-test. The results showed that the mean differences between the upper and lower groups were significant. Second, Pearson Correlational Coefficients were analyzed between the Machiavvellianism total score which was formed as a sum of two subdimentions and narcissism, traditional ve cyberbullying, callaousness ve prosocial behaviors. All correlations were significant in expected directions. Allover results indicated that Machiavvellianism Scale was a reliable and valid measurement tool among Turkish speaking adolescents. Keywords: Machiavvellianism, Narcissism, Callaousness, Prosocial Behaviors, Adolescents