Does the disposition towards psychotic-like experiences incrementally predict grandiose narcissism? Representative evidence from Germany

Abstract

A process model of narcissism proposes two positively related but distinct subdimensions of grandiose narcissism: admiration (agentic/bright) and rivalry (antagonistic/dark). We explore the relationship between narcissism and the Big Five personality dimensions plus disintegration, that is, the dispositional tendency to psychotic-like experiences. We hypothesize that disintegration has an incremental contribution in explaining narcissism beyond the Big Five. The sample consisted of 2618 respondents representative of the German population. Narcissism was assessed by the NARQ questionnaire, Big Five traits by the Big Five Inventory, and disintegration by the DELTA scale. As expected, disintegration contributed to explaining both subdimensions of narcissism over and above the Big Five. A specific personality configuration we named "destructive personality profile," composed of low conscientiousness (C), low agreeableness (A), and high disintegration (D), was related to both aspects of narcissism. Rivalry had a stronger relation to the "destructive personality profile" than admiration.