Xenophobia among University Students: Its Relationship with Five Factor Model and Dark Triad Personality Traits

Xenophobia, being hostile to foreigners and feeling fear of them, is considered as hating and having prejudices against the people of other nations. It is noticed that with the increase of migration movements on a global scale in recent years, xenophobia has become one of the more critical subjects in the scientific world. Determining the relationships between xenophobic attitudes and personal traits is considered as one of the important steps in developing relationships especially among people from different cultures. By detecting positive personality traits and negative personality traits associated with xenophobia, interpersonal relationships can be developed. Accordingly, in the current study, it is aimed to determine the relationships between xenophobia and personality traits (neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, and Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy). For this purpose, data were collected from 422 (342 females, 80 males) university students via the data collection tools, which are “Xenophobia Scale”, “Adjectives Based Personality Test” and “Dirty Dozen Scale”. The data were analyzed by stepwise regression technique. As a result of the analyzes, it has been observed that agreeableness, which is among the five-factor personality traits, and psychopathy and narcissism, which are among the dark triad-personality traits predicted xenophobia significantly. Accordingly, it was determined that the agreeable people had lower levels of xenophobic attitudes. Psychopathy and narcissism personality traits have been observed to lead to higher levels of xenophobic attitudes.


Introduction
Xenophobia, which is formed by the combination of xenos-foreign and phobos-phobia words in ancient Greek, is a concept that means fear of foreigners. Xenophobia is generally defined as being hostile to foreigners and fear of them, hating people of other nations and having prejudices against them (Campbell & McCandless, 1951;Corsini, 2001;Oxford Dictionary, n.d.). Based on these definitions, it is possible to underline many reasons of xenophobia beyond just fear of foreigners and hostile attitudes displayed. Among the factors that cause xenophobia such as economic factors, regional migration movements, perception of a possible threat to certain culture, political imbalances, religious doctrines and terrorism come to the fore (Omoluabi, 2008). Xenophobia has recently been associated with more migrants (Yakushko, 2009). Xenophobia causes attitudes such as fear, hate, and humiliation, and this leads to the experience of xenophobia both at individual and social levels. The perception of migrants being guilty and uneducated by people in the local nation and the thought that they will threaten cultural living can lead to prejudice and discrimination (Yakushko, 2009). The fact that xenophobia includes prejudice against a nationality or ethnicity is usually based on the assumption of cultural / ethnic or racial superiority (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 2010).
Xenophobia usually has a number of basic conditions and inclusive contexts (APA, 2010). Factors affecting xenophobic attitudes are mainly considered as internal and environmental factors. Internal factors are evaluated within the context of genetic structure and personality traits, while environmental factors are evaluated within the scope of education and intergroup relations (Wagner, 2017). Defining xenophobia as a form of defense mechanism against individual or massive anxiety arising from social or individual distress also contribute these factors (APA, 2010). When people perceive others' lifestyles as a threat to themselves, they can exhibit xenophobic attitudes (Chen & Park-Taylor, 2006).
Considering the factors that lead to xenophobia, it becomes evident that xenophobia should be evaluated in both personal and social context. On a personal scale; while emotions, thoughts, behaviors and attitudes along with experiences are taken into consideration within the scope of xenophobia, the issue that whether personality traits of individuals and xenophobia are related comes to the fore. Gallego and Pardos-Prado (2014) examining the effect of five factor-personality traits neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness in attitudes towards migrants found a significant negative relationship between neuroticism and conscientiousness dimensions and attitudes towards immigrants. In addition to this, it was observed that there was a low level of relationship between the openness to experience dimension, which was considered as predictor of prejudice and attitudes towards migrants (Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014). In other studies examining the role of personality traits in predicting xenophobic attitudes, it was found that those who had low agreeableness scores had more xenophobic orientation. In addition, altruism prevents individuals' xenophobic attitudes by reducing conflict between groups (Barbarino & Sturmer, 2016;Sturmer et al., 2013.). On the other hand, xenophobia is also associated with prejudices against foreigners and migrants. Prejudice about minorities is influenced by other indicators related to personality and personality dimensions (Adorno et al., 1950). The low level of openness to experience among personality traits was evaluated as the predictor of group prejudices (Sibley et al., 2010).
Another part of personality traits is considered as Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy, which are expressed as dark triad. Machiavellianism is defined as a feature that not hesitating to use others for individual interests; narcissism is expressed as seeing herself or himself as superior and magnificent, and anxiety and low empathy along with high levels of impulsivity and the search for excitement are cited as the central characters of psychopathy (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). All three personality traits include malicious social behavioral traits that stand out and displaying behavioral tendencies towards emotional coldness and aggression (Paulhus & Williams, 2002). In this regard, it is thought that the dark triad of personality, Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy-prone features may be related to xenophobia. In the literature, there are various studies (Barbarino & Sturmer, 2016;Gallego & Pardos-Prado, 2014;K. Ackermann & Ackermann, 2015;Sturmer et al., 2013), in which the relationships between xenophobia and five-factor personality traits are examined however studies dealing with the relationships between xenophobia and dark triad personality traits have not been encountered. For this reason, in the current study, fivefactor personality traits and dark triad personality traits were also examined together. Thus, it was aimed to determine which of the personality traits that are affecting the xenophobic attitudes of individuals are more prominent.

Purpose of the Study
In this study, it was aimed to determine whether the five-factor personality traits and dark triad personality traits predict the level of xenophobia of university students. The research question created in line with this basic purpose of the study is as follows: Do university students' five-factor personality traits and dark triad personality traits significantly predict their xenophobia levels?

Research Design
The relationship between xenophobia and five-factor and dark triad personality traits was examined in the study. Due to the examination of the relationship between the variables, the study was designed in a correlational research pattern among quantitative research types. In the correlational research designs, the degree and direction of the changes between the variables are tried to be determined (Fraenkel et al., 2011).

Sample and Data Collection Tools
The study group consisted of university students determined through the convenience sampling method. In line with the data obtained from 422 participants, the relationship between xenophobia and personality traits was tested. 67% of the participants are females (n = 342) and 33% are males (n = 80).
Xenophobia Scale, Adjectives Based Personality Test and Dark Dozen Scale were used to collect data in this study. Psychometric properties of the scales were presented below.
Xenophobia Scale: Xenophobia Scale was developed by Bozdag and Kocaturk (2017) to determine attitudes towards migrants. The scale, which consists of 18 items in the five-point Likert type, has three sub-dimensions: fear, hate and humiliation. Item factor loads are between .50 and .83, and the total variance explained is 55.47%. Goodness of fit indices obtained after confirmatory factor analysis (CMIN / DF = 2.16, CFI = .93, NNFI = .92, RMSEA = .067, SRMR = 0.51) represent adequate compliance. The Cronbach alpha value of the scale is .87. Each item in the scale is responded as (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) neither agree nor disagree, (4) agree, (5) strongly agree. Two of the items (items 7 and 11) are coded reversely. The minimum score that can be obtained from the scale is 18, the maximum score is 90, and the higher scores indicate higher levels of xenophobia and the lower scores indicate lower levels of xenophobia. In this study, the Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was calculated as .89.
Adjectives Based Personality Test: Factor analysis and concurrent validity of the scale were performed to test the validity of the scale developed by Bacanli et al. (2007). As a result of the factor analysis, 40 adjective pairs, which are designed to measure five different personality dimensions (extraversion, agreeableness, conscientiousness, neuroticism and openness to experience), were determined. These dimensions explained 52.6% of the total variance. The scale was externally validated using the Sociotropy Scale, Reaction to Conflicts Scale, Negative-Positive Emotion Scale, Trait Anxiety Inventory, and results were obtained in the expected direction. As a result, it was determined that the scale has sufficient validity. Internal consistency coefficients of the scale ranged from .73 to .89. In this study, the internal consistency coefficient of the dimensions of the scale varied between .65 and .87.
Dirty Dozen Scale: The scale developed by Jonason and Webster (2010) and adapted to Turkish by Satici et al. (2018) includes three dimensions: Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to test the construct validity of the scale and the fit indices obtained (x 2 (51, N = 430) = 145.16, p <.001; CFI = .96; GFI = .95; IFI = .96; SRMR = .047; RMSEA = 0.066) confirmed the structure in the original form of the scale. In addition, the predictive validity of the scale was provided. Cronbach alpha values of the Dirty Dozen Scale were calculated as .79 for the Machiavellianism dimension, .71 for the psychopathy dimension and .87 for the narcissism dimension. The scale consisting of 12 items has a 9-point Likert-type scoring ranging from "absolutely disagree" to "strongly agree". The higher score indicates that inclination in personality traits in the relevant sub-dimension have increased. In this study, the Cronbach alpha values obtained from the sub-dimensions were .72 for the Machiavellianism dimension, .64 for the psychopathy dimension and .89 for the narcissism dimension.

Data Analysis
The data collection tools used in the study were applied to the participants by the researchers in the classrooms. Guidelines were presented regarding the scales and individuals volunteering to participate in the study were informed about the subject.
In the study, some points were taken into consideration in the data collection process in order to prevent the common method bias. First of all, anonymity of the participants was provided. Identity information of the participants is not included on the data collection tool. Explanations were made by the researchers that their responses will not be shared with others, there is no right or wrong answer, and that the data collected through scales will only be used for scientific purposes. In this context, the importance of filling out the scales to reflect the reality as much as possible was stated. It is specified that if there is an uncertain or incomprehensible point in the scale items, they can get help from the researchers. For this purpose, the researchers were in the classroom during the application. In addition, the use of 5point, 7-point and 9-point Likert type scales in the study also contributed to the prevention of the common method bias. Harman's single-factor test and partial correlation procedure can be used to examine the common method bias (Podsakoff et al., 2003;Podsakoff et al., 2012). The result of the single factor test of the Harman, the variance explained in one factor in the data, was found 22%. Also, as a result of the partial correlation analysis, the relationship between the variables was determined to be less than .90. These results showed that there was no common method bias problem in the study.
The data obtained were analyzed by computer software. The relationships between independent and dependent variables were tested by regression analysis. To test the relationships of five dimensions of five-factor personality structure -neuroticism, extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness-and three dimensions of dark triad personal traits -Machiavellianism, narcissism and psychopathy-with xenophobia attitudes, stepwise regression analysis was used. Basic assumptions were met for the analysis.
Assumptions for stepwise regression analysis; linearity, homoscedasticity, multicollinearity, autocorrelation and normal distribution assumptions were checked by running appropriate analyses (Field, 2013;Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013). Autocorrelation, the absence of autocorrelation between the errors, indicates that the errors are independent from each other. The Durbin-Watson test result should be around 2 and the calculated value for variables (1,924), which shows no relation between the errors and indicates that this assumption was met. However, the relationships between dependent variable (xenophobia) and independent variables (personality traits) are linear. In the multiple linear regression model, the connection between the independent variables should be above the tolerance value of 0.1 and below 10 with VIF values. Since the scores obtained from the scales were between the values of skewness and kurtosis between -2 and +2, it was decided that the distribution was normal. The mean and standard deviation values of the variables, the correlation coefficients between the variables, TV, VIF, skewness and kurtosis values are given in Table 1 below. International Journal of Educational Methodology  549

Findings / Results
When the mean and standard deviation values of the scales used in the study (Table 1) were examined, the participants' xenophobia mean score was 47.53 (13.37). The five-factor personality dimensions were also examined and the mean scores of dimensions were averaged 24.84 (6.26) for neuroticism, 44.28 (8.78) for extraversion, and 42.85 (6.39) for openness to the experience, 48.34 (7.71) for agreeableness, and 36.78 (6.74) for conscientiousness. Among the dark triad personality traits of the participants, Machiavellianism mean score was 10.97 (5.81), psychopathy mean score was 10.16 (5.50), and narcissism mean score was 18.00 (8.72).
As well, the relationships between the participants' xenophobic attitudes and five-factor personality traits were examined, and it is observed that there was a low positive relationship (r = .13, p <.05) between xenophobic attitudes and neuroticism, a low negative relationship (r = -.22, p <.01) between xenophobic attitudes and agreeableness. No significant relationship was found between xenophobic attitudes and extraversion (r = -.03, p > .05), openness to experience (r = -.01, p > .05) and conscientiousness (r = -.03, p > .05) dimensions. On the other hand, considering the relationship between participants' xenophobic attitudes and dark triad personality traits, it is understood that there is a low level of positive and significant relationships between xenophobia and Machiavellianism (r = .19, p <.01), psychopathy (r = .29, p <.01) and narcissism (r = .21, p < .01).
A stepwise regression analysis was performed to determine whether the five-factor personality traits and the dark triad personality traits predicted the xenophobic attitudes of the participants. Analysis results are presented in Table 2.
As seen in  F (3, 418) = 17.31, p = .000) of university students' xenophobia levels. Psychopathy and narcissism predict the levels of university students' xenophobia in a positive way, while agreeableness predicts negatively. Therefore, it can be stated that psychopathy and narcissism, which are dark triad personality traits of university students, increase xenophobic attitudes, and agreeableness among five-factor personality traits decrease xenophobic attitudes. Step 1 Step 2 Step 3 Step 4 Step 5 Step 6

Discussion
When the findings of this study are evaluated in general, it is understood that psychopathy, agreeableness and narcissism predict xenophobia significantly in order of importance. People with psychopathy and narcissism personality traits display more xenophobic attitudes, while individuals with agreeableness personality traits have less xenophobic attitudes. In other words, as a result of the study, it was determined that only the agreeableness dimension among five-factor personality traits, and the psychopathy and narcissism dimensions among dark triad traits predict the university students' xenophobic attitudes.
Warfare and migration experiences can lead to many negative consequences, especially for children. In a study conducted in Turkey, migrants and Turkish children were asked to draw a picture to determine their perceptions of war and migration. While migrant children depicted what they saw about war and migration because they personally experienced the war and migrated due to the war, Turkish children drew pictures based on the knowledge they learned earlier because they did not experience this condition (Oztabak, 2020). In understanding the experiences of migrants, individual attitudes come to the fore as well as the social approach. Therefore, considering their past experiences in attitudes towards migrants will affect this situation. As a matter of fact, it seems that those who are more prone to xenophobia do not cooperate with others and are not socio-culturally inclusive (Litvinova & Tarasov, 2012). It is seen that multicultural education programs are effective in the understanding and acceptance of cultures and individual factors, in developing tolerance for individuals from other cultures and communities (Aslan & Aybek, 2020). Thanks to such multicultural education, factors such as understanding people from different nations, respecting different views, and showing empathy with those different experiences can replace xenophobic attitudes. Therefore, education level plays an important role here. In a study, it was found that students who do not want to go to university show more xenophobia than students who want to go to university (Boehnke et al., 1998).
In a community, dominant groups can develop prejudices and discrimination attitudes towards other subgroups (Case et al., 2006). As an example of this, in a study conducted in England on the relationship and social interaction of university students with foreign students, local students perceive international students as a threat in terms of academic success and group identity. Passive xenophobia can be mentioned in this form of perception, which emerged in terms of cultural differences, life styles, and classroom and campus behavior of international students (Harrison & Peacock, 2010). A similar result was obtained from a study conducted in Germany. It has been found that openness and flexibility personality traits have a reducing effect on hostility towards foreigners and immigrants, while national identity has an increasing effect on xenophobia. In addition, xenophobia has an increasing effect on social distance (Genkova & Grimmelsmann, 2020). It can be concluded that while dealing with individual attitudes towards foreigners, the personality traits come to the fore in the migrants' successful integration process.
According to Paulhus and Williams (2002), the main reason of psychopathy is the high levels of impulsivity, search for excitement and anxiety, and low level of empathy. Considering negative emotional states of individuals with psychopathy personality traits and low empathy levels, it is an expected result that those individuals have xenophobic attitudes. When that xenophobic attitudes include feelings of hostility, anger and hatred towards foreigners is taken into consideration, it is understood that individuals with psychopathy personality trait coincide with their emotional states.
Narcissism, which is described as the love of the individual herself or himself in the most general sense; includes boasting, constant pursuit of attention, excessive self-focus and self-admiration (Jakobwitz & Egan, 2006;Jones & Paulhus, 2011). It has been determined that individuals with narcissism personality traits have low life satisfaction (Tozar, 2019). Low life satisfaction shows that they could not reach their desired goals in life. It is also possible to link this situation to perceiving the resources in life as insufficient for them. One of the reasons behind the xenophobic attitudes is insufficiency of resources (Omoluabi, 2008). Insufficient resources cause individuals considered to be foreigners as a threat in society. When this situation is evaluated in terms of individuals with narcissism personality trait, these individuals' focusing especially on themselves, perceiving the resources in life insufficiently, and low life satisfaction depending on that may increase their xenophobic attitudes.
Individuals with agreeableness personality trait are reliable, cooperative, warm, compassionate and kind. These individuals avoid conflicts and are willing to cooperate (Gerber et al., 2011;McCrae & Costa, 2003). It is argued that these individuals should prefer equal opportunities for migrants, especially due to their affectionate and warm nature (K. Ackermann & Ackermann, 2015). In general, the results of the studies are in this direction. It was determined that individuals having low agreeableness scores among dimensions of five-factor personality traits displayed more xenophobic attitudes (Barbarino & Sturmer, 2016;Sturmer et al., 2013.). In the study conducted by K. Ackermann and Ackermann (2015), it was found that agreeableness has a positive meaningful relationship with positive attitudes towards equal opportunities for migrants. Similar results were obtained from studies conducted by Gallego and Pardos-Prado (2014) and Dinesen et al. (2014). In this study, it has been determined that there is a negative relationship between agreeableness personality trait and xenophobic attitudes, which is consistent with the literature. On the other hand, in the study of Gallego and Pardos-Prado (2014), while there were negative relationships between conscientiousness and openness to experience among the five-factor personality traits and negative attitudes towards migrants, no relationship was found between these dimensions mentioned and xenophobic attitudes in this study. It is known that xenophobia is associated with prejudices against foreigners and migrants. Openness to experience is the predictor of group prejudices (Sibley et al., 2010). Therefore, it is expected that there could be negative relationships between openness to experience and xenophobia. The absence of such a relationship in the current study may be due to the fact that the group from whom the data was collected consists of university students. It can be stated that university students have similar characteristics in terms of openness to experience. Therefore, it may be possible to obtain clearer results through similar studies to be conducted with different groups.

Conclusion
Regarding the need to examine xenophobic behaviors and attitudes on a personal level, examinations and evaluations on that issue point to personality traits. Exposing the relationships between personality traits that can be considered as negative with xenophobia will give an idea in explaining this concept and in determining the factors that should be included in the intervention programs to be developed in order to reduce xenophobic attitudes. This study is thought to contribute to the literature in this sense. As a result of this study, it was determined that the personality traits of psychopathy, narcissism and agreeableness predict individuals' xenophobic attitudes.

Recommendations
Considering that personality traits affect xenophobic attitudes, there are some clues that mental health professionals can utilize in intervention studies. Various group activities can be organized in universities to increase the interaction of migrant students and students from the host community, thereby contributing to the integration process. The selection of the members of the host community, who will take part in this group work, should be conducted with individuals with agreeableness traits, which may facilitate the process. In order to prevent social exclusion of migrant students, host students with agreeableness traits can be provided with peer counseling support.
On the other hand, it is important to be aware of the negative attitudes of host society members, who are thought to have narcissism and psychopathy personality traits, and to pay attention to this while organizing the studies. Exposure of migrant students to xenophobic attitudes may also cause them to lag behind the education process. In this context, it is important that the academic staff carrying out teaching activities in universities can create a positive interaction environment in the classroom.

Limitations
It is possible to mention some limitations of this study. First of all, the fact that the study is a cross-sectional one can be considered as a limitation in terms of examining attitudes. More comprehensive and valid results can be achieved through longitudinal studies to be conducted to examine xenophobic attitudes. The study group consisted of university students, however more comprehensive results and implications could be acquired through nation-wide studies including individuals from different segments of the society. Finally, in this study, only personality traits were examined in predicting xenophobic attitudes. Considering that xenophobic attitudes are influenced by internal and environmental factors, correlational studies can be carried out including some environmental factors as well as individual ones. Different studies in which the relations between xenophobia and various social factors (social exclusion, cultural distance, social contact etc.) are discussed also can be conducted.