Narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Personality Psychology
• Social Psychology

Background:

• Self-esteem regulation is complex, involving both defensive and nondefensive processes.
• Narcissism, characterized by grandiosity and a need for admiration, may influence self-esteem maintenance.
• Defensive self-enhancement strategies are employed to protect self-esteem.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the interrelationships between narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement.
• To determine the structural components of defensive self-enhancement.
• To examine how narcissism relates to different facets of self-esteem.

Main Methods:

• Utilized various self-report measures to assess narcissism, self-esteem, and defensive self-enhancement.
• Employed statistical analyses on four distinct samples (N=60, 84, 300, 57).
• Examined the orthogonal components of defensive self-enhancement: grandiosity and social desirability.

Main Results:

• Defensive self-enhancement comprises two independent components: grandiosity and social desirability.
• Both grandiosity and social desirability independently predict self-esteem, acting as potential confounds.
• Narcissism positively correlates with grandiose self-enhancement, not social desirability.
• Narcissism is associated with both defensive and nondefensive self-esteem.
• Specific narcissistic traits (authority, self-sufficiency, vanity) predict nondefensive self-esteem.

Conclusions:

• Findings support a two-component model for self-esteem regulation.
• Narcissism's relationship with self-esteem is multifaceted, involving both enhancement and defensive strategies.
• The distinct components of defensive self-enhancement offer a nuanced understanding of self-esteem measurement.