Studies have shown that both Big Five and Dark Triad (Machiavellianism, narcissism, psychopathy) personality traits are related to traditional bullying and cyberbullying behaviors in adolescents as well as in adults. Increasingly, scholars call for sadism as an addition to the Dark Triad in the study of antisocial and delinquent behaviors. In the current study we analyze whether the Big Five, Dark Triad and sadism predict traditional bullying and cyberbullying. The sample consisted of 1,568 participants (61.9 % female), ranging in age from 16 to 21 years. Using hierarchical linear regression analyses, controlling for age and gender, it was found that agreeableness, Machiavellianism, psychopathy and sadism were significantly related to traditional bullying, and agreeableness and sadism were related to cyberbullying. Taken together, the results more firmly establish that sadism could be a predictor of antisocial behaviors, by establishing its relations with bullying and cyberbullying.

In the current manuscript meta-analyses are performed to analyze the relations between three aspects of psychopathy in youth, Callous-Unemotional (CU) traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity, and bullying behaviors. The databases PsycINFO, MEDLINE, ERIC, Web of Science and Proquest were searched for relevant articles on bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, or Impulsivity in youth under 20 years of age. Two authors each independently screened 842 studies that were found in the literature search. Two authors independently coded ten studies on bullying and CU (N = 4115) traits, six studies on bullying and Narcissism (N = 3376) and 14 studies on bullying and Impulsivity (N = 33,574) that met the inclusion criteria. Significant correlations were found between bullying and CU traits, Narcissism, and Impulsivity. These results were not affected by publication bias. Anti-bullying interventions could potentially benefit from including elements that have been found effective in the treatment of youth psychopathy.