Summary: Researchers have discovered that vulnerable narcissism in women is linked to increased intimate partner violence and bullying. Unlike the grandiose narcissism often seen in men, women’s narcissism manifests subtly. The findings highlight the need for gender-specific interventions.
Key Facts:
- Vulnerable narcissism in women is associated with physical, sexual, and psychological partner violence.
- Women scored higher in vulnerable narcissism, while men scored higher in grandiose narcissism.
- Childhood experiences, such as having a caring mother, can reduce vulnerable narcissism and related violent behaviors.
Source: City University London
The researchers found that the trait manifests itself in vulnerable and subtle ways in women, which deviates from stereotypical manifestations of (male) narcissism that are typically expressed in grandiose and overt ways.
Psychologists Dr Ava Green, Lecturer in Forensic Psychology at City, and Dr Claire Hart, Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of Southampton, have, for the first time, examined the combination of narcissism origins and narcissism’s role in violence. It is also the first time both male and female narcissism have been examined in detail.
The studies have been published in the journal Sex Roles.
Most research to date on inter-partner violence focuses on grandiose narcissism, and mostly on men.
“There has been little research on vulnerable narcissism and on narcissism in women,” explained Dr Green. “Part of this relates to the need to use gender-inclusive assessments of narcissism that move beyond traditional male centric frameworks. Our research addresses this gap.”
Dr Hart added: “Narcissism is a complex personality trait. We all exhibit narcissistic features to varying degrees, which can be expressed in both grandiose and vulnerable forms. Individuals who exhibit more grandiose features are self-assured and socially dominant whereas individuals who exhibit more vulnerable features are introverted and have lower self-esteem.
“Both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism share an antagonistic core, demonstrated by high levels of entitlement and willingness to exploit others.”
Narcissism and partner violence
Studying 328 adults (176 women and 152 men), Dr Green and Dr Hart examined the complex dynamics between childhood experiences, narcissism, and perpetration of intimate partner violence in males and females.
Men scored higher on grandiose narcissism whilst women scored higher on vulnerable narcissism.
Dr Green said: “We found that grandiose narcissism in men was associated with greater perpetration of psychological partner violence, whilst vulnerable narcissism in women was linked with greater perpetration of physical, sexual, and psychological partner violence.
“For women, recalling having a caring mother during childhood was associated with reduced levels of vulnerable narcissism and subsequent perpetration of violence toward their partner, highlighting possible buffers that can be acknowledged and integrated into intervention programmes.”
Narcissism and bullying amongst friends
Dr Green and Dr Hart also examined how grandiose and vulnerable narcissism contribute to bullying among friendship groups, surveying a total of 314 women.
Dr Hart said: “When examined separately, higher scores on vulnerable narcissism were associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in verbal, physical, and indirect forms of bullying. Higher scores on grandiose narcissism were associated with a greater likelihood of engaging in physical or verbal bullying.
“However, when both types of narcissism were considered simultaneously, only vulnerable narcissism emerged as a significant predictor of physical and verbal bullying, highlighting the relevance of this form of narcissism in bullying perpetration among women.”
Dr Green added: “These findings show that narcissistic women are less likely to manifest the stereotypical expressions of grandiose narcissism that closely resemble masculine features of males in society, potentially due to fears of receiving backlash for violating feminine gender stereotypes.
“Instead, features of vulnerable narcissism, which more closely aligns with femininity, is a greater risk marker for offending behaviours in women and, as a consequence, more likely marginalised and disregarded due to its elusive and subtle features.”
A better understanding of the role narcissism plays in women can help to inform and tailor appropriate gender-specific interventions to reduce the perpetration of intimate partner violence and bullying.
About this NPD and violence research news
Author: George Wigmore
Source: City University London
Contact: George Wigmore – City University London
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News
Original Research: Open access.
“Gendering Narcissism: Different Roots and Different Routes to Intimate Partner Violence” by Ava Green et al. Sex Roles
Open access.
“Mean Girls in Disguise? Associations Between Vulnerable Narcissism and Perpetration of Bullying Among Women” by Ava Green et al. Sex Roles
Abstract
Gendering Narcissism: Different Roots and Different Routes to Intimate Partner Violence
Research has only recently begun to explore narcissism in women using gender-inclusive assessments that move beyond traditional male-centric frameworks associated with grandiosity.
Such work indicates gender differences in the onset and expression of narcissism, and risk factors of partner violence perpetration. The pathways to offending in narcissism may therefore be gendered but have yet to be tested.
In this study, we investigated the mediating role of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in the association between childhood exposure to maltreatment and later partner violence perpetration in adulthood, and the moderating role of gender in these associations.
Participants (N = 328) completed scales of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, perceived parenting styles, and physical/sexual and psychological abuse perpetration.
Results indicated gender differences in grandiose (men higher) and vulnerable (women higher) narcissism. Retrospective reports of having mothers who were caring was negatively related to grandiose narcissism for men and vulnerable narcissism for women.
Father overprotectiveness was positively related to grandiose narcissism in men. Self-reported vulnerable narcissism was related to greater perpetration of physical/sexual and psychological IPV in women, whereas grandiose narcissism was associated with greater perpetration of psychological IPV in men.
For women, but not men, mother care was associated with reduced psychological IPV via lower vulnerable narcissism levels. These findings inform gendered risk markers of narcissism and perpetration of violence for intervention efforts.
Abstract
Mean Girls in Disguise? Associations Between Vulnerable Narcissism and Perpetration of Bullying Among Women
The literature on bullying perpetration is underpinned by gendered undertones, commonly portraying men as bullies given men’s greater tendency to exhibit stereotypically masculine and overtly grandiose features of narcissism.
Due to the lack of gender-sensitive inventories employed, the association between narcissism and bullying perpetration among women remains understudied.
Using an all-women sample (N = 314), the current study explored grandiose narcissism (overtly immodest and domineering) and vulnerable narcissism (hypersensitive and neurotic), the latter being more prevalent among women, in relation to bullying peers.
Correlation analyses showed that vulnerable narcissism was positively associated with verbal, physical, and indirect bullying. At the subscale level, contingent self-esteem, devaluing, and entitlement rage were positively associated with all three types of bullying.
Grandiose narcissism was positively associated with physical and verbal bullying, as was grandiose fantasy at the subscale level, and exploitativeness was positively associated with all three types of bullying.
When grandiose and vulnerable narcissism were simultaneously entered into a regression model, only vulnerable narcissism emerged as a positive predictor of physical and verbal bullying.
At the subscale level, devaluing positively predicted verbal and indirect bullying, whereas hiding the self negatively predicted indirect bullying.
Expressions of vulnerable narcissism, more so than grandiose narcissism, may be relevant for bullying perpetration among women. Implications for anti-bullying interventions are discussed.
