Linking pathological narcissism to posttraumatic stress disorder in veterans

Combat deployments are stressful life events that confer risk for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in veterans. Typically, PTSD is conceptualized as being caused by traumatic experiences, leading research to focus predominantly on events while excluding other contributors, such as personality features. Narcissism may contribute to the deleterious effects of trauma exposure because of vulnerabilities in the sense of self, as demonstrated in research on narcissism and the development and maintenance of PTSD in civilians. However, the strength of the association between pathological narcissism features and PTSD has yet to be examined in a veteran sample. The present study sought to address this gap by comparing how narcissism contributes to variance in PTSD symptoms relative to the contribution of combat experience. In a sample of veterans deployed in support of recent operations in Afghanistan and Iraq (N = 179), regression analysis showed that higher pathological narcissism features accounted for variance beyond combat experience alone in PTSD symptoms, ∆R² = .13, p < .001. When dimensions of narcissism were examined as separate predictors of PTSD, vulnerable, β = .45, p < .001, but not grandiose, β = -.09, p = .293, features had a significant effect on PTSD. Our results align with recent work demonstrating that personality pathology is an important factor in the study of PTSD in veterans. Further research incorporating a larger variety of variables related to personality functioning, personality traits, and life events is needed to understand the role of pathological narcissism features in the development of PTSD.