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The overarching aim of this study was to develop and validate a new scale (i.e., the Praise, Indulgence, and Status Parenting Scale [PISPS]) to measure modern parenting practices and behaviors consistent with instilling ideals of specialness (i.e., the notion that one is special), self-esteem, and status in children. In 2 studies on emerging adults (Study 1: N = 582, M(age) = 19.46; Study 2: N = 464, M(age) = 19.58), the PISPS was developed and validated using classical test theory (Study 1) and further refined using item–response theory (Study 2). Results from both studies indicated a 3-factor structure with factors differentially linked with correlates of interest including parenting strategies, self-esteem, narcissism, entitlement, and internalizing symptoms. Study 3 further validated the PISPS in a sample of parents (N = 638, M(age) = 35.79) reporting on their parenting and their child’s emotion regulation and symptoms of psychopathology. Overall, findings support the PISPS, its psychometric properties, and its unique contribution to child symptoms.

Adolescents spend a substantial and increasing amount of time using digital media (smartphones, computers, social media, gaming, Internet), but existing studies do not agree on whether time spent on digital media is associated with lower psychological well-being (including happiness, general well-being, and indicators of low well-being such as depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempts). Across three large surveys of adolescents in two countries (n = 221,096), light users (

The present study examines the association between the ceremonial use of ayahuasca—a decoction combining the Banistereopsis caapi vine and N,N-Dimethyltryptamine-containing plants—and changes in personality traits as conceived by the Five-Factor model (FFM). We also examine the degree to which demographic characteristics, baseline personality, and acute post-ayahuasca experiences affect personality change. Participants recruited from three ayahuasca healing and spiritual centers in South and Central America (N = 256) completed self-report measures of personality at three timepoints (Baseline, Post, 3-month Follow-up). Informant-report measures of the FFM were also obtained (N = 110). Linear mixed models were used to examine changes in personality and the moderation of those changes by covariates. The most pronounced change was a reduction in Neuroticism dzself-reportT1–T2 = − 1.00; dzself-reportT1–T3 = − .85; dzinformant-reportT1–T3 = − .62), reflected in self- and informant-report data. Moderation of personality change by baseline personality, acute experiences, and purgative experiences was also observed.

Previous research on associations between screen time and psychological well-being among children and adolescents has been conflicting, leading some researchers to question the limits on screen time suggested by physician organizations. We examined a large (n = 40,337) national random sample of 2- to 17-year-old children and adolescents in the U.S. in 2016 that included comprehensive measures of screen time (including cell phones, computers, electronic devices, electronic games, and TV) and an array of psychological well-being measures. After 1 h/day of use, more hours of daily screen time were associated with lower psychological well-being, including less curiosity, lower self-control, more distractibility, more difficulty making friends, less emotional stability, being more difficult to care for, and inability to finish tasks. Among 14- to 17-year-olds, high users of screens (7+ h/day vs. low users of 1 h/day) were more than twice as likely to ever have been diagnosed with depression (RR 2.39, 95% CI 1.54, 3.70), ever diagnosed with anxiety (RR 2.26, CI 1.59, 3.22), treated by a mental health professional (RR 2.22, CI 1.62, 3.03) or have taken medication for a psychological or behavioral issue (RR 2.99, CI 1.94, 4.62) in the last 12 months. Moderate use of screens (4 h/day) was also associated with lower psychological well-being. Non-users and low users of screens generally did not differ in well-being. Associations between screen time and lower psychological well-being were larger among adolescents than younger children., Highlights • More hours of screen time are associated with lower well-being in ages 2 to 17. • High users show less curiosity, self-control, and emotional stability. • Twice as many high (vs. low) users of screens had an anxiety or depression diagnosis. • Non-users and low users did not differ in well-being. • Associations with well-being were larger for adolescents than for children.

Although previous research has shown that individuals take on aspects of the avatars they embody in virtual environments, studies have not yet tested whether this phenomenon, known as the Proteus e...

Historical conceptualizations have framed personality disorders (PDs) as unchanging and ego-syntonic. However, recent evidence suggests that individuals with PD traits may have some insight into their personality and consider those traits to be somewhat ego-dystonic. To replicate and extend previous findings, participants (N = 328) self-reported their PD trait levels, likability of those traits, impairment, capability for change, and desired trait levels. The results demonstrated that individuals with PD traits tolerate but still dislike those traits, believe that they cause them problems, and are interested in reducing them. Level of PD trait did not relate to perception of capability for change. Likability and impairment moderated most of the relations between actual PD trait and desired level. That is, there was a stronger correlation between actual and desired levels among individuals who liked the trait more; there was also greater agreement between actual and desired levels among individuals who found the traits less impairing. For 2 of the traits-Negative Affectivity and Detachment-individuals who felt more capable of changing these traits demonstrated greater agreement between their actual and desired levels. These data suggest that individuals with PD traits do not generally see them as particularly likable and see them as impairing; such impressions may have important implications for where individuals ultimately prefer to reside on these PD trait domains. (PsycINFO Database Record

Although self-promotion may be the most direct way people self-present, it carries social costs. We propose a novel phenomenon—promotion by others—wherein social networks may afford similar advantages with fewer costs. We utilized egocentric network analysis to examine relationships between social connections and perceived promoter potential (i.e., likelihood a friend will tell others about successes; PPP) and relationship dynamics. Participants enumerated friends and reported perceptions these friends would promote them, were valuable, and the extent to which they wanted these friends to know about successes. PPP was positively related to (a) network connectedness, (b) relational value, and (c) desire to know about success. We discuss benefits of promotion by others and individual differences related to engagement in this process.

An association between grandiose narcissism and self-esteem has been well established. While the two constructs are both associated with an agentic, approach-oriented style, their levels of agreeableness/antagonism and overall adaptivity diverge. Three samples (N = 1920; N = 855, N = 591) were utilized to test the hypothesis that self-esteem may show a curvilinear relationship with narcissism such that relations between self-esteem and narcissism are stronger at particularly high levels of self-esteem. Item Response Theory scoring methods were utilized to maximize power and minimize error. No curvilinear effects consistent with the hypothesis were found. These results are consistent with arguments for substantive differences between self-esteem and narcissism.

There is a growing interest in the role of personality characteristics in describing financial outcomes. The Big Five personality traits have been shown to predict relevant financial outcomes including income and net worth. In the present research (n = 395), we move beyond individual Big Five personality traits to look at personality profiles in the prediction of financial outcomes. Using latent profile analyses, we identified three profiles—Under Controlled, Resilient, and Over Controlled—which were uniquely associated with income, risk tolerance, and life satisfaction. These patterns held even after controlling for gender, education, and age. The discussion focuses on the relative benefits of a personality approach over the common risk-tolerance approach.

Due to increased empirical interest in narcissism across the social sciences, there is a need for inventories that can be administered quickly while also reliably measuring both the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. In this study, we sought to validate the factor structure, provide representative descriptive data and reliability estimates, assess the reliability across the trait spectrum, and examine the nomological network of the short version of the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire (NARQ-S; Back et al., 2013). We used data from a large convenience sample (total N = 11,937) as well as data from a large representative sample (total N = 4,433) that included responses to other narcissism measures as well as related constructs, including the other Dark Triad traits, Big Five personality traits, and self-esteem. Confirmatory factor analysis and item response theory were used to validate the factor structure and estimate the reliability across the latent trait spectrum, respectively. Results suggest that the NARQ-S shows a robust factor structure and is a reliable and valid short measure of the agentic and antagonistic aspects of grandiose narcissism. We also discuss future directions and applications of the NARQ-S as a short and comprehensive measure of grandiose narcissism. (PsycINFO Database Record

Scholars posit that economically prosperous times should produce higher individualism and narcissism, and economically challenging times lower individualism and narcissism. This creates the possibility that narcissism among U.S. college students, which increased between 1982 and 2009, may have declined after the Great Recession. Updating a cross-temporal meta-analysis of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory to 2013 (k = 164, N = 35,095) and adding two within-campus analyses to 2015 (Study 2: UC Davis, N = 58,287) and 2016 (Study 3: U South Alabama, N = 14,319) revealed a non-monotonic pattern, with increases in NPI scores between 1982 and 2008 and declines thereafter. The decline in NPI scores during and after the recession took narcissism back to their original levels in the 1980s and 1990s. Implications for the interplay between economic conditions and personality traits are discussed.

Narcissism is broadly described as a grandiose sense of self, feelings of entitlement, and a need for attention and admiration. Theorists have long suggested that to maintain an overly positive self-image, individuals with narcissistic features often self-enhance (Leary, 2007) and exhibit distorted (John & Robins, 1994) self-perceptions. Despite this theoretical link, little is known about its relationship to response style, particularly in regard to underreporting or defensiveness. Nevertheless, response style has been extensively studied in psychopathy, narcissism's closest neighbor, due to concerns that psychopathic individuals may lack insight into their traits and/or may be unwilling to admit to perceived faults or difficulties. Given the limited research on this topic, we examined narcissism's relation to response style in multiple samples (i.e., two undergraduate samples; one incarcerated sample) with several well-validated measures of response validity and narcissism. Across samples, the findings indicate that narcissism is not characterized by response invalidity, at least not in low-stakes research settings; in fact, vulnerable features of narcissism were found to be negatively associated with underreporting and a defensive response style. Implications for the present findings are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

Objective: Theoretical conceptions of narcissism have long been characterized by two seemingly opposing poles: grandiosity and vulnerability. The goal of the current study was to investigate the extent to which traits associated with one profile are perceived to co-occur with the other within an individual. Method: Lay raters (n = 862; 56% female; 80% Caucasian; mean age = 37) recruited from Amazon's MTurk and assigned to one of four conditions in which they rated how often a series of narcissistic traits were displayed by a prototypical grandiose narcissist, vulnerable narcissist, a close friend, or themselves. Vulnerable narcissism items were specifically worded to assess internalizing vs. externalizing-based emotional responses. Results: Results suggest that grandiosely narcissistic individuals are seen as responding angrily to ego-threatening situations, while vulnerably narcissistic individuals are seen as responding with a broader array of negative emotions including anger, sadness, and shame. In contrast, vulnerably narcissistic individuals were not rated as consistently demonstrating behaviors, attitudes, or cognitions associated with grandiose narcissism. Conclusions: Grandiose and vulnerable narcissistic individuals both exhibit anger in response to ego threat, but sadness/shame responses are much more characteristic of vulnerable narcissism. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

There has been a surge in interest in and research on narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Despite or because of this increased attention, there are several areas of substantial debate that surround the construct, including descriptions of grandiose and vulnerable dimensions or variants, questions regarding the existence of a consensual description, central versus peripheral features of narcissism, distinctions between normal and pathological narcissism, possible etiological factors, the role of self-esteem in narcissism, where narcissism should be studied, how it can be assessed, and its representation in diagnostic nosologies. We suggest that a failure to distinguish between grandiose (i.e., overtly immodest, self-centered, entitled, domineering) and vulnerable (e.g., self-centered, distrustful, neurotic, introverted) presentations of narcissism has led to a less cohesive and coherent literature and that trait-based models of personality and personality disorder can bring greater clarity to many of these important debates.

Orth, Trzesniewski, and Robins (2010) concluded that the nationally representative Americans' Changing Lives (ACL) cohort-sequential study demonstrated moderate to large age differences in self-esteem, and no birth cohort (generational) differences in the age trajectory. In a reanalysis of these data using 2 different statistical techniques, we find significant increases in self-esteem that could be attributed to birth cohort or time period. First, hierarchical linear modeling analyses with birth cohort as a continuous variable (vs. the multiple group formulation used by Orth et al.) find that birth cohort has a measurable influence on self-esteem through its interaction with age. Participants born in later years (e.g., 1960) were higher in self-esteem and were more likely to increase in self-esteem as they aged than participants born in earlier years (e.g., 1920). However, the estimated age trajectory up to age 60 is similar in Orth et al.'s results and in the results from our analyses including cohort. Second, comparing ACL respondents of the same age in 1986 versus 2002 (a time-lag design) yields significant birth cohort differences in self-esteem, with 2002 participants of the same age higher in self-esteem than those in 1986. Combined with some previous studies finding significant increases in self-esteem and positive self-views over time, these results suggest that cultural change in the form of cohort and time period cannot be ignored as influences in cross-sectional and longitudinal studies. (PsycINFO Database Record

Objectives: The Dark Triad traits (i.e., narcissism, psychopathy, Machiavellianism) capture individual differences in aversive personality to complement work on other taxonomies, such as the Big Five traits. However, the literature on the Dark Triad traits relies mostly on samples from English-speaking (i.e., Westernized) countries. We broadened the scope of this literature by sampling from a wider array of countries. Method: We drew on data from 49 countries (N = 11,723; 65.8% female; Age Mean = 21.53) to examine how an extensive net of country-level variables in economic status (e.g., Human Development Index), social relations (e.g., gender equality), political orientations (e.g., democracy), and cultural values (e.g., embeddedness) relate to country-level rates of the Dark Triad traits, as well as variance in the magnitude of sex differences in them. Results: Narcissism was especially sensitive to country-level variables. Countries with more embedded and hierarchical cultural systems were more narcissistic. Also, sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed societies: Women were less likely to be narcissistic in developed (vs. less developed) countries. Conclusions: We discuss the results based on evolutionary and social role models of personality and sex differences. That higher country-level narcissism was more common in less developed countries, whereas sex differences in narcissism were larger in more developed countries, is more consistent with evolutionary than social role models.

Public discourse is often caustic and conflict-filled. This trend seems to be particularly evident when the content of such discourse is around moral issues (broadly defined) and when the discourse occurs on social media. Several explanatory mechanisms for such conflict have been explored in recent psychological and social-science literatures. The present work sought to examine a potentially novel explanatory mechanism defined in philosophical literature: Moral Grandstanding. According to philosophical accounts, Moral Grandstanding is the use of moral talk to seek social status. For the present work, we conducted six studies, using two undergraduate samples (Study 1, N = 361; Study 2, N = 356); a sample matched to U.S. norms for age, gender, race, income, Census region (Study 3, N = 1,063); a YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Study 4, N = 2,000); and a brief, one-month longitudinal study of Mechanical Turk workers in the U.S. (Study 5 , Baseline N = 499, follow-up n = 296), and a large, one-week YouGov sample matched to U.S. demographic norms (Baseline N = 2,519, follow-up n = 1,776). Across studies, we found initial support for the validity of Moral Grandstanding as a construct. Specifically, moral grandstanding motivation was associated with status-seeking personality traits, as well as greater political and moral conflict in daily life.

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI) has exhibited strong construct validity and is the only measure that captures the three factors associated with recent models of narcissism. Unfortunately, the FFNI and its short form (FFNI-SF) may be too long to use in certain research protocols. To make the FFNI-SF even briefer while maintaining its structure and breadth, the FFNI-SF was administered to 2 samples of undergraduate students (N = 1009, N = 432) and 2 samples of adults recruited from Amazon's Mechanical Turk platform (N = 494, N = 591) along with commonly used measures of narcissism, antisocial behavior, and other related constructs. Fifteen items (one per FFNI subscale) were selected to constitute the FFNI “super-short” form (FFNI-SSF). Exploratory factor analyses of the items supported a three-factor (antagonism, agentic extraversion, and neuroticism) solution consistent with its longer parent instrument. Total, presentation (grandiose and vulnerable), and factor (antagonism, agentic extraversion, and neuroticism) scores showed strong associations with other narcissism measures and external criteria related to narcissism, and all of these relations were virtually identical for the SSF compared to the SF. The FFNI-SSF shows promise as a very brief but multifaceted measure of narcissism grounded in an empirically validated model of personality.

The present study hypothesized that there exist two distinct groups of entitled individuals: grandiose-entitled, and vulnerable-entitled. Self-report scores of entitlement were collected for 916 individuals using an online platform. Model-based cluster analyses were conducted on the individuals with scores one standard deviation above mean (n = 159) using the five-factor model dimensions as clustering variables. The results support the existence of two groups of entitled individuals categorized as emotionally stable and emotionally vulnerable. The emotionally stable cluster reported emotional stability, high self-esteem, more positive affect, and antisocial behavior. The emotionally vulnerable cluster reported low self-esteem and high levels of neuroticism, disinhibition, conventionality, psychopathy, negative affect, childhood abuse, intrusive parenting, and attachment difficulties. Compared to the control group, both clusters reported being more antagonistic, extraverted, Machiavellian, and narcissistic. These results suggest important differences are missed when simply examining the linear relationships between entitlement and various aspects of its nomological network.

Selfies, or pictures taken of oneself and shared on social media, have become a worldwide phenomenon. In the present research, we examine the relationship between narcissism, both vulnerable and grandiose, and the frequency of and motivations behind selfie-taking. The Dark Triad of personality (narcissism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism) and self-esteem were also measured. In Study 1, 348 adults on Amazon Mturk completed measures of personality, demographics, and several questions about selfie behavior online. In Study 2, 491 undergraduate students completed the same measures and a subset of these provided access to their Instagram and Iconosquare accounts, which were rated for narcissism by naive judges. Results from both studies indicate that grandiose narcissism is associated with taking and posting more selfies, experiencing more positive affect when taking selfies, and self-reported self-presentation motives. The Dark Triad traits resembled grandiose narcissism. Vulnerable narcissism was associated with negative affect when taking selfies. Self-esteem was unrelated to selfie-taking.

Continuing a long-standing trend in the U.S. Social Security Administration database of first names (N = 358 million), American parents were less likely to choose common names for their children between 2004 and 2015, including the years of the Great Recession (2008–2010). These trends were similar in California (severely affected by the recession) and Texas (less affected). Over a longer time period (1901–2015), cyclical economic indicators were either not correlated with common names (e.g., stock market performance) or worse economic times predicted fewer common names. The results are consistent with increasing individualism, with limited support for the idea that economic threat leads people to embrace uniqueness and no real support for the idea that economic deprivation leads to more communal name choices.

Prior research has separately examined the influence that narcissism and power have on the general concept of overconfidence. In this article we examine the influence of narcissism on overconfidence utilizing three different methods to operationalize the overconfidence construct (Studies 1–4). In addition, we examine the role that power plays in the relationship between narcissism and overconfidence (Studies 2–4). Results indicate that both narcissism and power both individually and collectively exert an influence on overconfidence. Furthermore, when individuals who score relatively high on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory are in an elevated state of power, overconfidence is significantly higher than for individuals in a low state of power. This interaction effect, however, was only evident when high levels of narcissism were overweighted in the analyses, by, for example, oversampling (Study 4). We conclude by discussing implications and avenues for future research.

Clinical theory is skeptical of individuals’ ability to recognize the presence, severity, and impact of clinical symptoms and pathological traits (Oltmanns & Powers, 2012); however, empirical work has found moderate self–other convergence for reports of pathological traits and for Antagonism-related personality disorder (PD) constructs (i.e., psychopathy, narcissism, and Machiavellianism), which are characterized by low insight. Nevertheless, empirical examinations of insight into perceptions of impairment are scant. Thus, the present study sought to examine individuals’ insight regarding pathological traits and related impairment in two samples. In Sample 1, more psychopathic, narcissistic, and Machiavellian individuals reported higher levels of pathological traits and were aware of related impairment. In Sample 2, individuals reported higher levels of pathological traits and, albeit to a lesser degree, more Antagonism-related impairment. Thus, more psychopathic, narcissistic, and Machiavellian individuals possess a reasonable degree of insight into their trait levels and associated impairment.

Both academic and popular literatures have repeatedly contended that emerging adults are the most narcissistic and entitled age-group in modern times. Although this contention is fiercely debated, the message that emerging adults are narcissistic and entitled has saturated popular culture. Despite this saturation, relatively little empirical work has examined how emerging adults might react to such labels. Across three studies in five samples in the U.S., the present work sought to address this deficit in research. Results from cross-sectional samples of university students at two universities, as well as an online convenience sample of web-using adults (Study 1), indicated that emerging adults believe their age-group and the one following them (e.g., adolescents) to be the most narcissistic and entitled age-groups, that they have generally negative opinions of narcissism and entitlement, and that they respond negatively to being labeled as narcissistic and entitled. Additionally, results from adult web-users revealed that, while all age groups tend to view adolescents and emerging adults as more narcissistic and entitled than older age-groups, these opinions are more exaggerated among members of older age-groups. Finally, across two experimental studies (Studies 2 & 3), results indicated that emerging adults react negatively to labeling of their age-group as narcissistic and entitled, but no more negatively than they do to potentially related undesirable labels (e.g., oversensitive). Collectively, these results indicate that emerging adults are aware of and somewhat distressed by messaging that casts their age-group as the most narcissistic and entitled age-group ever.

There is broad consensus that there are at least two different dimensions of narcissism: vulnerable and grandiose. In this study, the authors use a new trifurcated, three-factor model of narcissism to examine relations between aspects of narcissism and an array of clinically relevant criteria related to psychopathology, the self, authenticity, and well-being. Neurotic and antagonistic aspects of narcissism emerged as the most clinically relevant dimensions of narcissism, bearing relations with outcomes relating to interpersonal guilt, insecure attachment styles, cognitive distortions, maladaptive defense mechanisms, experiential avoidance, impostor syndrome, weak sense of self, inauthenticity, low self-esteem, and reduced psychological well-being. Grandiose narcissism was not correlated with most forms of psychopathology and was even positively associated with life satisfaction. Nevertheless, a surprising link was found between grandiose narcissism and multiple indicators of inauthenticity. Implications for the appropriate conceptualization, assessment, and treatment of pathological narcissism are discussed.

Mixed findings exist as to whether personality pathology involves a critical lack of awareness and insight. Research questions about insight and awareness in personality pathology are typically assessed via comparing self- and informant reports of traits. However, recent studies have measured insight by asking individuals to evaluate additional questions about impairment and desire to change. The present study uses a variety of approaches to examine these issues, including investigations of convergence between self- and informant reports (N = 197 dyads; correlations and comparisons of means) of personality psychopathology, desired trait levels, and perceptions of impairment. Convergence was observed between levels of self- and informant-reported traits, desired traits, and impairment. However, individuals rated themselves higher on pathological trait levels and impairment than did their informants. Furthermore, individuals with relatively higher pathological traits desired higher levels of these traits (but lower than their actual scores) than individuals with lower scores; on the actual measurement scale, however, these higher scorers rated their desired level below the neutral point. Overall, individuals with pathological personality traits possess a reasonable degree of insight into their actual trait levels and associated impairment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Despite a growing interest in the use of self-report measures of narcissism among student, community, and clinical samples, the research on narcissism in prison samples is sparse, despite elevated rates of narcissism in these samples. The current study examined the relations between commonly used measures of grandiose narcissism (Narcissistic Personality Inventory-13 [NPI-13]), vulnerable narcissism (Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale [HSNS]), and narcissistic personality disorder (NPD; Personality Diagnostic Questionnaire [PDQ]) in a sample of adult male offenders (N = 179). The NPI-13 and PDQ NPD scales overlapped substantially with one another and manifested similar empirical profiles (rICC = .81), with both being substantially correlated with interview-based symptoms of NPD, entitlement, psychopathy, and externalizing behaviors. Conversely, the HSNS manifested more limited relations with other measures of NPD and related traits (e.g., entitlement), as well as externalizing behaviors, and was more strongly related to internalizing symptoms. Consistent with previous work, NPD appears to be a blend of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as the PDQ's empirical profile overlapped with that of the HSNS (rICC = .51), which was not true for the NPI-13 (rICC = .18). Analyses of the incremental validity of the 3 measures suggested that the NPI-13 was particularly successful in accounting for unique variance in these relevant criteria. These results underscore the benefit of utilizing multiple measures to distinguish empirical correlates of grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and NPD. (PsycINFO Database Record

The Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI; Glover, Miller, Lynam, Crego, & Widiger, 2012) is a 148-item self-report inventory of 15 traits designed to assess the basic elements of narcissism from the perspective of a 5-factor model. The FFNI assesses both vulnerable (i.e., cynicism/distrust, need for admiration, reactive anger, and shame) and grandiose (i.e., acclaim seeking, arrogance, authoritativeness, entitlement, exhibitionism, exploitativeness, grandiose fantasies, indifference, lack of empathy, manipulativeness, and thrill seeking) variants of narcissism. The present study reports the development of a short-form version of the FFNI in 4 diverse samples (i.e., 2 undergraduate samples, a sample recruited from MTurk, and a clinical community sample) using item response theory. The validity of the resultant 60-item short form was compared against the validity of the full scale in the 4 samples at both the subscale level and the level of the grandiose and vulnerable composites. Results indicated that the 15 subscales remain relatively reliable, possess a factor structure identical to the structure of the long-form scales, and manifest correlational profiles highly similar to those of the long-form scales in relation to a variety of criterion measures, including basic personality dimensions, other measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and indicators of externalizing and internalizing psychopathology. Grandiose and vulnerable composites also behave almost identically across the short- and long-form versions. It is concluded that the FFNI-Short Form (FFNI-SF) offers a well-articulated assessment of the basic traits comprising grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, particularly when assessment time is limited.

An understudied area of personality psychology is how personality traits might facilitate structuring of one’s environment toward goals like mating. In four studies ( N = 1325), we examined (1) self-reports of where individuals go to find long-term and short-term mates, (2) how personality traits are associated with the use of these locations, and (3) how the sexes differ in their selection of mate search locations. Men were more likely than women were to use short-term (e.g., bars) than long-term (e.g., community events) niches, but did not differ in success in those niches and agreed on the nature of those niches. Slow life history traits, conscientiousness and agreeableness, were linked to preferences for long-term niches whereas, fast life history traits, narcissism and dishonesty, were linked to preferences for short-term mating niches.

Americans have become increasingly tolerant of controversial outgroups in results from the nationally representative General Social Survey (1972–2012, N = 35,048). Specifically, adults in the 2010s (versus the 1970s and 1980s) were more likely to agree that Communists, homosexuals, the anti-religious, militarists, and those believing Blacks are genetically inferior should be allowed to give a public speech, teach at a college, or have a book in a local library. Cross-classification hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analyses separating the effects of time period, cohort/generation, and age show that these trends were driven by both a linear time period effect and a curvilinear cohort effect, with those born in the late 1940s (Boomers) the most tolerant when age and time period were controlled. Tolerance of homosexuals increased the most, and tolerance of racists the least. The increase in tolerance is positively correlated with higher levels of education and individualistic attitudes, including rejecting traditional social rules, but is negatively correlated with changes in empathy.

In nationally representative yearly surveys of United States 8th, 10th, and 12th graders 1991-2016 (N = 1.1 million), psychological well-being (measured by self-esteem, life satisfaction, and happiness) suddenly decreased after 2012. Adolescents who spent more time on electronic communication and screens (e.g., social media, the Internet, texting, gaming) and less time on nonscreen activities (e.g., in-person social interaction, sports/exercise, homework, attending religious services) had lower psychological well-being. Adolescents spending a small amount of time on electronic communication were the happiest. Psychological well-being was lower in years when adolescents spent more time on screens and higher in years when they spent more time on nonscreen activities, with changes in activities generally preceding declines in well-being. Cyclical economic indicators such as unemployment were not significantly correlated with well-being, suggesting that the Great Recession was not the cause of the decrease in psychological well-being, which may instead be at least partially due to the rapid adoption of smartphones and the subsequent shift in adolescents' time use. (PsycINFO Database Record

Although there is evidence that experts agree on the traits that characterize narcissism, this agreement may be due, in part, to the influence of the operationalizations based on the American Psychiatric Association's series of Diagnostic and Statistical Manuals of Mental Disorders (American Psychiatric Association [APA], 1980, 1994, 2013). Because these trait descriptions are important in shaping conceptualizations and serving as empirical criteria for construct validation, we explored their generalizability. In Study 1, we collected lay ratings (N = 1,792) of prototypical cases of narcissism across 15 different categories (e.g., gender, age, occupational status) on the 30 traits of the five-factor model (FFM). There was good agreement within and across rating categories and the trait profiles were quite similar to existing ratings made by academicians and clinicians. In Study 2 (N = 603), we examined the degree to which various scores from the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory-Short Form (FFNI-SF; Sherman et al., 2015) provided empirical matches to these FFM profiles (mean lay ratings from Study 1; existing expert-based and meta-analytically derived profiles). In general, scores from the FFNI-SF grandiose scale, as well as the empirically derived FFNI-SF Antagonism and Agentic Extraversion components yielded FFM profiles closely aligned to the various consensus profiles. These results are generally consistent with a burgeoning literature that suggests that the FFNI/FFNI-SF is a promising tool for the study of narcissism given its comprehensiveness, flexibility, and ties to the predominant model of personality. (PsycINFO Database Record

The present research used an empirical, crowdsourced trait profiling approach to describe the personality of President Donald Trump (hereafter Trump) that accounts for political views. We recruited participants who voted for Hillary Clinton (N = 120; hereafter Clinton) and Trump (N = 118), and asked them to rate Trump’s personality on the 30 facets of the Five Factor Model. Participants also provided perceived helpfulness and harmfulness ratings of the facets before and after the election. We treated these facet level ratings as trait profiles, which were transformed into estimates of personality disorders (PDs) and complex trait-based constructs based on expert profiles. Results suggest only modest agreement between Clinton and Trump voters on Trump’s personality. Clinton voters perceived much greater antagonism, lower conscientiousness, and higher levels of impairment in Trump’s personality than did Trump voters who primarily perceived high levels of extraversion and emotional stability (i.e., low neuroticism). At the level of PDs and complex traits, there was some convergence with both groups seeing Trump as high in narcissism and psychopathy.

Narcissism and social media use are intertwined and possibly causally related phenomena. Empirical research on narcissism and social media has been ongoing for a decade. The main purpose of this chapter is to provide a brief overview of these research findings and review a selection of theoretical models that may be useful for understanding narcissism and social media. These models include personality/trait theories as well as perceptual, self-regulation, network, and cultural models. Some of the limitations and controversies in this literature are highlighted and avenues for future research suggested. The chapter focuses primarily on grandiose narcissism, although some research pertaining to vulnerable narcissism is also to be included.

This article focuses on the interplay between narcissistic leaders and organizations. It attempts to capture the gist of this interplay with a model outlining the narcissistic organizational trajectory. The Energy Clash Model borrows and adapts a phase/state physics metaphor to conceptualize narcissism as a force that enters or emerges in a stable system (i.e., organization) as a leader, destabilizes it, and stabilizes it at a different state or is expelled. The model consists of three time-contingent phases: perturbation, conflict, and resolution. Narcissists create instability through waves of excitement, proposed reforms, and an inspiring vision for organization’s future ( perturbation). With the passage of time, though, systemic awareness and alertness intensify, as organizational costs—in terms of human resources and monetary losses—accrue. Narcissistic energy clashes directly with the organization ( conflict), a clash likely to restabilize the system eventually. The conflict may provoke the exit of the narcissistic leader or his or her accommodation, that is, steps or controls negotiated between the system and the leader ( resolution). Although narcissism is subject to organizational liability, narcissistic energy, when managed and directed properly, may contribute to organizational innovation and evolution. Thus, several interventions for working with narcissistic leaders are discussed.

Recent studies have examined perceived levels of narcissism as rated by Americans and non-Americans and found support for early assumptions that American culture is perceived as narcissistic (Miller et al., 2015; Wolfe, 1976). However, specific reasons for this phenomenon remain unclear. The aim of the current study was to test if proximal, salient exposure to narcissistic exemplars (i.e., celebrities) acts as one mechanism that explains this perception. Participants (N = 300) were randomly assigned to exposure to either celebrity magazines or neutral magazines conditions, and subsequently asked to provide American PNC ratings. No hypothesized differences by condition were found in terms of narcissism or FFM profile; however, American PNCs were rated as pathologically narcissistic in both conditions.

Two dimensions of narcissism exist, grandiose and vulnerable, which are thought to be associated with distinctly different patterns of interpersonal behavior. Social network analysis is a way of quantifying and analyzing interpersonal interactions that may prove useful for characterizing the networks associated with these narcissism dimensions. In the current study, participants (N = 148) completed scales assessing both narcissism dimensions and a measure of the five-factor model of personality. Egocentric network information about participants' 30 closest friends and family members (i.e., "alters") was also obtained. Both narcissism dimensions were characterized by negative perceptions of the individuals who comprise one's social networks, and many of these relations were mediated by individuals' higher levels of antagonism. Grandiose narcissism also interacted with alter centrality (i.e., importance to the network) such that individuals low on grandiose narcissism were less likely to perceive central alters in a negative light and were more attuned to central alters than were individuals high on grandiose narcissism. Overall, both narcissism dimensions were associated with perceiving one's overall social environment negatively because of the high levels of antagonism that characterize both narcissism dimensions. Individuals high on grandiose narcissism, however, appear to be more insensitive to the relative importance of individuals in their social networks.

Impulsivity has been consistently associated with pathological gambling (PG), but the diversity of definitions and measures of impulsivity has led to ambiguity with regard to which indices are independently relevant. Toward clarifying this relationship, the current study examined indices from an array of commonly-used impulsivity measures in relation to PG severity in an adult community sample of frequent gamblers (N = 353). These included both survey assessments and behavioral tasks. Using a factor analytic approach, four latent factors were identified among 19 indices and were designated reward sensitivity, punishment sensitivity, delay discounting, and cognitive impulsivity. All four latent variables were positively and independently related to PG severity, albeit at a trend level for cognitive impulsivity in a combined model. These findings reveal four generally independent domains of impulsivity that are related to PG severity, clarify which assessment measures aggregate in each domain, and illustrate the importance of measurement specificity in studying impulsivity in relation to PG and other psychiatric disorders.

We examined trends over time in vocabulary, a key component of verbal intelligence, in the nationally representative General Social Survey of U.S. adults (n = 29,912). Participants answered multiple-choice questions about the definitions of 10 specific words. When controlled for educational attainment, the vocabulary of the average U.S. adult declined between the mid-1970s and the 2010s. Vocabulary declined across all levels of educational attainment (less than high school, high school or 2-year college graduate, bachelor's or graduate degree), with the largest declines among those with a bachelor's or graduate degree. Hierarchical linear modeling analyses separating the effects of age, time period, and cohort suggest that the decline is primarily a time period effect. Increasing educational attainment has apparently not improved verbal ability among Americans. Instead, as educational attainment has increased, those at each educational level are less verbally skilled even though the vocabulary skills of the whole population are unchanged.

Objective: Alcohol misuse is substantially infl uenced by social factors, but systematic assessments of social network drinking are typically lengthy. The goal of the present study was to provide further validation of a brief measure of social network alcohol use, the Brief Alcohol Social Density Assessment (BASDA), in a sample of emerging adults. Specifi cally, the study sought to examine the BASDA's conver- gent, criterion, and incremental validity in relation to well-established measures of drinking motives and problematic drinking. Method: Participants were 354 undergraduates who were assessed using the BASDA, the Alcohol Use Disorders Identifi cation Test (AUDIT), and the Drinking Motives Questionnaire. Results: Signifi cant associations were observed between the BASDA index of alcohol-related social density and alcohol misuse, social motives, and conformity motives, supporting convergent validity. Criterion-related validity was supported by evidence that signifi cantly greater alcohol involvement was present in the social networks of individuals scoring at or above an AUDIT score of 8, a vali- dated criterion for hazardous drinking. Finally, the BASDA index was signifi cantly associated with alcohol misuse above and beyond drinking motives in relation to AUDIT scores, supporting incremental validity. Conclusions: Taken together, these fi ndings provide further support for the BASDA as an effi cient measure of drinking in an individual's social network. Methodological considerations as well as recommendations for future investigations in this area are discussed. (J. Stud. Alcohol Drugs, 74, 810-815, 2013)

Despite widespread use, the South Oaks Gambling Screen (SOGS) has been criticized for excessive false positives as an indicator of pathological gambling (PG), and for items that misalign with PG criteria. We examine the relationship between SOGS scores and PG symptoms and convergent validity with regard to personality, mood, and addictive behaviors in a sample of 353 gamblers. SOGS scores correlated r = .66 with both DSM-IV and DSM-5 symptoms, and they manifested similar correlations with external criteria (intraclass correlation of .95). However, 195 false positives and 1 false negative were observed when using the recommended cut point, yielding an 81% false alarm rate. For uses with DSM-IV criteria, a cut point of 10 would retain high sensitivity with greater specificity and fewer false positives. For DSM-5 criteria, we advocate a cut point of 8 for use as a clinical screen and a cut point of 12 for prevalence and pseudo-experimental studies.

Anger at God has begun to receive empirical attention as a psychological construct. Studies have shown that anger at God is common, and is often associated with various indicators of psychological distress. Past research has demonstrated that multiple aspects of personality, including psychological entitlement, are related to anger at God. The goal of the present study was to evaluate whether psychological entitlement is robustly associated with anger at God, even when diverse aspects of personality are statistically controlled. We tested this hypothesis in two groups: an undergraduate sample (n 413) and an adult web sample (n 148). Results provided strong, consistent support for our hypothesis: psychological entitlement consistently emerged as a unique predictor of anger at God, even when controlling for the Big Five factors of personality and narcissistic entitlement. These findings strongly demonstrate that psychological entitlement is a robust predictor of anger toward God, beyond previously established predictors.

The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Personality Disorders (4th ed., American Psychiatric Association, 2000) personality disorders (PDs) that will be included in the DSM-5 will be diagnosed in an entirely different manner; the explicit criterion sets will be replaced with impairments in self and interpersonal functioning and personality traits from a 25-trait dimensional model of personality pathology. From a trait perspective, narcissistic personality disorder (NPD), the focus of this study, is assessed using 2 specific traits: grandiosity and attention seeking. Using a sample collected online from Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk; N=306), we examined the relations among traits from a new measure of DSM-5's trait model--the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID5; Krueger, Derringer, Markon, Watson, & Skodol, in press)--and grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. The 25 traits from PID5 captured a significant portion of the variance in grandiose and vulnerable factors, although the 2 specific facets designated for the assessment of NPD fared substantially better in the assessment of grandiose rather than vulnerable narcissism. These results are discussed in the context of improving the DSM-5's ability to capture both narcissism dimensions.

Objective Increasing attention has been paid to the distinction between the dimensions of narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability. We examine the degree to which basic traits underlie vulnerable narcissism, with a particular emphasis on the importance of Neuroticism and Agreeableness. Method Across four samples (undergraduate, online community, clinical-community), we conduct dominance analyses to partition the variance predicted in vulnerable narcissism by the Five-Factor Model personality domains, as well as compare the empirical profiles generated by vulnerable narcissism and Neuroticism. Results These analyses demonstrate that the lion's share of variance is explained by Neuroticism (65%) and Agreeableness (19%). Similarity analyses were also conducted in which the extent to which vulnerable narcissism and Neuroticism share similar empirical networks was tested using an array of criteria, including self-, informant, and thin slice ratings of personality; interview-based ratings of personality disorder and pathological traits; and self-ratings of adverse events and functional outcomes. The empirical correlates of vulnerable narcissism and Neuroticism were nearly identical (MrICC = .94). Partial analyses demonstrated that the variance in vulnerable narcissism not shared with Neuroticism is largely specific to disagreeableness-related traits such as distrustfulness and grandiosity. Conclusions These findings demonstrate the parsimony of using basic personality to study personality pathology and have implications for how vulnerable narcissism might be approached clinically.

The similarity between narcissism and self-esteem seems intuitive, as both capture positive perceptions of the self. Empirical evidence suggests that these constructs are moderately correlated and share some common factors, but the exact nature of their relation is uncertain, as there are critical differences in their connections to other important variables. In the current undertaking, we provide a broad, relatively comprehensive comparison of the nomological networks of grandiose narcissism and explicit self-esteem. Pooling data from 11 existing samples (N=4711), we examined the relations of narcissism and self-esteem to developmental experiences, individual differences, interpersonal functioning, and internalizing as well as externalizing psychopathology. Results suggest that both constructs are strongly and positively related to agentic traits, such as extraversion and assertive interpersonal approaches but differ in relation to agreeableness/communion. In terms of functionality, self-esteem emerged as an adaptive construct that is strongly and negatively associated with internalizing psychopathology and generally unrelated to externalizing behaviors. Although narcissism bore only small relations to internalizing psychopathology, it was uniquely and positively related to interpersonal antagonism, pathological personality traits, and externalizing behaviors. Thus, narcissism and self-esteem share a core of extraversion and a tendency towards behavioral activation and approach but differ with regard to their view of others in relation to the self. Narcissism, unlike high self-esteem, was related to more callous, grandiose, entitled, denigrating, and aggressive views of and attitudes towards others that likely partially explain narcissism’s stronger links to maladaptive outcomes.

The link between leader narcissism and follower perceptions of ethical leadership and leader effectiveness, including the potential moderating role of ethical context was investigated. Associations between narcissism and follower perceptions of both ethical and effective leadership were not significant. In highly ethical contexts, however, narcissistic leaders were perceived as ineffective and unethical. These results are interpreted in the context of the fit between leader personality and organizational ethical climate. Implications for research investigating the role that narcissism plays in leadership, as well as organizational responses to narcissistic leaders, are highlighted.

Aims To apply social network analysis (SNA) to investigate whether frequency and severity of gambling problems were associated with different network characteristics among friends, family and co-workers is an innovative way to look at relationships among individuals; the current study was the first, to our knowledge, to apply SNA to gambling behaviors. Design Egocentric social network analysis was used to characterize formally the relationships between social network characteristics and gambling pathology. Setting Laboratory-based questionnaire and interview administration. Participants Forty frequent gamblers (22 non-pathological gamblers, 18 pathological gamblers) were recruited from the community. Measurements and Findings The SNA revealed significant social network compositional differences between the two groups: pathological gamblers (PGs) had more gamblers, smokers and drinkers in their social networks than did non-pathological gamblers (NPGs). PGs had more individuals in their network with whom they personally gambled, smoked and drank than those with who were NPG. Network ties were closer to individuals in their networks who gambled, smoked and drank more frequently. Associations between gam- bling severity and structural network characteristics were not significant. Conclusions Pathological gambling is associated with compositional but not structural differences in social networks. Pathological gamblers differ from non-pathological gamblers in the number of gamblers, smokers and drinkers in their social networks. Homophily within the networks also indicates that gamblers tend to be closer with other gamblers. This homophily may serve to reinforce addictive behaviors, and may suggest avenues for future study or intervention.

Compared to previous generations, more American college students now rate themselves as above average on attributes such as academic ability, drive to achieve, leadership ability, public speaking ability, self-confidence, and writing ability (based on a nationally representative sample collected 1966–2009; N = 6.5 million). These birth cohort differences are similar with controls for race and gender and occurred despite the college population becoming less selective. Trends in positive self-views are correlated with grade inflation (which increased d = 0.81), but are not explained by changes in objective performance (e.g., SAT scores have declined, d = −0.22) or effort (time spent studying is down, d = − 0.31). Broad cultural shifts emphasizing positive self-views have apparently resulted in enhanced self-evaluations on agentic domains. Self-evaluations on communal attributes, such as understanding others, cooperativeness, and spirituality, either decreased or were unchanged.