Does narcissus prefer to be alone? Narcissistic personality features and the preference for solitude

To examine the associations that narcissistic personality traits had with the preference for solitude.

Preference for solitude may be impacted by various characteristics. Narcissism may be one such characteristic given its association with specific motivations for engagement with other individuals (e.g., status attainment).

We examined whether the associations that narcissism had with the preference for solitude were moderated by perceived attainment of status or instability of status.

Across three studies (N = 627/479/675), extraverted narcissism had the expected aversion to solitude. Antagonistic narcissism and neurotic narcissism did not have consistent associations with the preference for solitude across these studies, nor did the perceived attainment of status consistently moderate the links between narcissistic personality features and the preference for solitude. However, perceived instability of status moderated the associations that extraverted narcissism and antagonistic narcissism had with the preference for solitude. More specifically, the more stable status was perceived to be, the greater the aversion to solitude for those high in extraverted narcissism and the greater the preference for solitude for those high in antagonistic narcissism.

This pattern of results suggests that the motivations underlying preferences for solitude differ depending on particular narcissistic traits that predict whether one is more concerned with maintaining, gaining, or losing status. These results build upon what is known about the connections that narcissism has with the preference for solitude.