The dark triad and cyber aggression: Testing the longitudinal mediation of moral disengagement and toxic online disinhibition

An emerging body of research has consistently linked the Dark Triad traits—Machiavellianism, narcissism, and psychopathy—to cyber aggression. Moral disengagement and toxic online disinhibition have been identified as two psychological processes that may explain this association. However, longitudinal studies simultaneously examining these two mediators in the context of cyber aggression remain scarce, even though such designs are essential for clarifying temporal order and capturing dynamic processes. To address this gap, we conducted a three-wave longitudinal study in which 625 participants completed all three waves of the survey (Mage = 27.54, SDage = 6.23, age range: 20–58; 392 females). We tested a longitudinal mediation model to examine whether moral disengagement and toxic online disinhibition mediate the relationship between the Dark Triad traits and cyber aggression. Toxic online disinhibition was found to be the only significant mediator. This mediating effect was statistically significant for Machiavellianism and psychopathy, but not for narcissism. These findings suggest that toxic online disinhibition may serve as a more robust pathway than moral disengagement in explaining how specific Dark Triad traits contribute to cyber aggression.