Conceptions of Narcissism and the DSM-5 Pathological Personality Traits
Open accessAbstract
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-Fifth Edition (DSM-5) features two conceptions of Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD), one based on the retained DSM-IV's categorical diagnosis and the other based on a model that blends impairments in personality functioning with a specific trait profile intended to recapture DSM-IV NPD. Nevertheless, the broader literature contains a richer array of potential conceptualizations of narcissism, including distinguishable perspectives from psychiatric nosology, clinical observation and theory, and social/personality psychology. This raises questions about the most advantageous pattern of traits to use to reflect various conceptions of narcissistic pathology via the Personality Inventory for the DSM-5 (PID-5). In this study, we examine the associations of the Personality Disorder Questionnaire-Narcissistic Personality Disorder scale, Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16, and the Pathological Narcissism Inventory and the PID-5 dimensions and facets in a large sample (N = 1,653) of undergraduate student participants. Results point to strong associations with PID-5 Antagonism scales across narcissism measures, consistent with the DSM-5's proposed representation of NPD. However, additional notable associations emerged with PID-5 Negative Affectivity and Psychoticism scales when considering more clinically relevant narcissism measures.
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Across three samples (N = 2,057), so-called normal or adaptive narcissism manifests substantial correlations with DSM-5 section III PD traits from the domain of antagonism, including grandiosity, attention seeking, manipulativeness, callousness, deceitfulness, and hostility (mean r = 0.63, 0.52, 0.50, 0.42, 0.38, and 0.31, respectively).
“Across three samples (N = 2,057) (Miller et al. 2013a(Miller et al. ,b, 2014a,b;,b;Wright et al. 2013), so-called normal or adaptive narcissism manifests substantial correlations with DSM-5 section III PD traits from the domain of antagonism, including grandiosity, attention seeking, manipulativeness, callousness, deceitfulness, and hostility (mean r = 0.63, 0.52, 0.50, 0.42, 0.38, and 0.31,”
From Controversies in Narcissism (2017) · cites this paper as Wright et al. 2013
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“The moderate positive correlations of antagonism from the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 with both narcissism aspects (Rek et al., 2021; Wright et al., 2013) point in a similar direction.”
Background
- Authors
- Wright, A. G. C., Pincus, A. L., Thomas, K. M., Hopwood, C. J., Markon, K. E., & Krueger, R. F.
- Affiliations
- University at Buffalo, State University of New York (US)
- Pennsylvania State University (US)
- Michigan State University (US)
- University of Iowa (US)
- University of Minnesota (US)
- ORCID
- Venue
- Assessment
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2013-04-21
- Volume
- 20
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 339-352
- ISSN
- 1073-1911 (ISSN-L)
- 1552-3489
- OpenAlex
- W2151693960
- Cited by
- 129
- References
- 16
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 13 · 2024: 4 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 12 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 10 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 22 · 2016: 10 · 2015: 13 · 2014: 8 · 2013: 3
- FWCI
- 12.60
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- doi.org
- Locations
- Assessment (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (acceptedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich) (submittedVersion)
- Zurich Open Repository and Archive (University of Zurich)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (F32MH097325)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Applied Psychology › Psychological Testing and Assessment
- Keywords
- narcissism, narcissistic personality disorder, DSM-5, pathological personality traits, Pathological Narcissism Inventory, antagonism, negative affectivity, psychoticism, personality functioning, undergraduate students
- MeSH terms
- Adolescent, Adult, Factor Analysis, Statistical, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Models, Psychological, Narcissism, Personality Disorders, Personality Inventory, Psychometrics, Regression Analysis, United States, Multivariate Analysis, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Young Adult
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