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The Structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory With Binary and Rating Scale Items
Jennifer M Boldero1, Richard C Bell1, Richard C Davies1
1a Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, University of Melbourne , Victoria , Australia.
Journal of Personality Assessment
|May 14, 2015
Summary
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) shows a bifactor structure in binary and rating formats. Rating formats provide richer narcissism data, correlating with self-esteem and grandiosity.
Area of Science:
- Psychological assessment
- Personality psychology
- Clinical psychology
Background:
- The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) traditionally uses a forced-choice format.
- Alternative response formats, including binary and Likert-scale ratings, have been proposed for NPI items.
- Understanding the psychometric properties of these alternative formats is crucial for accurate narcissism assessment.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the factor structure of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) when items are presented in binary or rating response formats.
- To determine if the NPI's general factor in these formats can be considered a measure of a narcissism latent trait.
- To compare the narcissism components assessed by the general factor across binary and rating response formats.
Main Methods:
- Administered NPI items in binary (agree/disagree) and rating (Likert scale) response formats.
- Conducted bifactor analysis to examine the scale's structure.
- Calculated factor strength indexes to assess unidimensionality.
- Correlated the NPI's general factor with measures of self-esteem, narcissistic grandiosity, and narcissistic vulnerability.
Main Results:
- The NPI demonstrated a bifactor structure in both binary and rating response formats, with items loading on a general factor and six specific group factors.
- Factor strength indexes supported the unidimensionality of the NPI's general factor as a measure of narcissism.
- The general factor derived from the rating format assessed a broader range of narcissism components compared to the binary format.
- The general factor from the rating format showed moderate correlations with self-esteem, strong correlations with narcissistic grandiosity, and weak correlations with narcissistic vulnerability.
Conclusions:
- The use of binary or rating response formats for NPI items yields a bifactor structure.
- The NPI's general factor can be interpreted as a measure of a narcissism latent trait across both formats.
- Employing a rating format for NPI items enhances the richness and scope of assessed narcissism components, offering more comprehensive information.
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