Implications of college-age narcissism for psychosocial functioning at midlife: Findings from a longitudinal study of women

Abstract

Positive and negative implications of two types of college-age narcissism on psychosocial functioning at midlife were studied in a longitudinal sample of women. Both types were scored with self-report measures when the women were, on the average, age 21. Throughout the first half of their adult life, high scorers on covert narcissism presented themselves as lacking in confidence and having low morale; high scorers on overt narcissism described themselves as wanting admiration, being independent, and being forceful. Positive outcomes associated with covert narcissism included the development of insight and of a differentiated sense of the self and, in the case of overt narcissism, entailed an involvement in high-status and creative work careers. At midlife, high scorers on covert narcissism experienced negative affect and feelings of being neglected, whereas high scorers on overt narcissism experienced family conflict and problems with impulse control. The personality characteristics associated with both types of narcissism remained stable from the early 20s to early 50s.

An Analysis of Self: The Development and Assessment of a Measure of Selfobject Needs

“…Conversely, the Depletion factor was found to positively correlate with scale 2 (Depression, D), scale 7 (Psychasthenia, Pt), and scale 0 (Social Introversion Si) , and those high on the depletion factor typically demonstrated elevations on the F scale and were best described solely with a 98/89 codetype. Hibbard (1992) Reviewing the literature focused upon the range of narcissistic presentations, Wink (1996) found further evidence to support his overt/covert distinction. Summarizing the results of several studies, Wink (1996) identified a disparate pattern of correlations between the covert and overt forms of the narcissistic pathology.…”

“…Hibbard (1992) Reviewing the literature focused upon the range of narcissistic presentations, Wink (1996) found further evidence to support his overt/covert distinction. Summarizing the results of several studies, Wink (1996) identified a disparate pattern of correlations between the covert and overt forms of the narcissistic pathology. Wink first selected three measures derived from the DSM-III criteria, all of which were theorized to assess the overt form of narcissism: the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1979), and two MMPI-based scales.…”

“…Wink first selected three measures derived from the DSM-III criteria, all of which were theorized to assess the overt form of narcissism: the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (Raskin & Hall, 1979), and two MMPI-based scales. Scores on these measures were found to positively correlate with traits such as ego-expansiveness, selfcenteredness, assertiveness, and impulsivity (Raskin & Novacek, 1989;Raskin & Terry, 1988;Wink & Gough, 1991). Wink (1996 then selected three measures of covert narcissism --the Narcissistic Personality Disorder Scale (Ashby, 1979), the Narcissistic-Hypersensitvity Scale (Serkownek, 1975), and the Ego-Sensitivity Scale (ESS; Pepper, 1985), and identified the traits most commonly associated with them.…”

“…Previous research had indicated that a sense of boredom was common to both covert and overt narcissism (Wink & Donahue, 1996), however, the source of this boredom was believed to vary based upon their respective personality organization. The study authors therefore compared the scores on the WGNS (Wink & Gough, 1990; a measure of overt narcissism) and the NPDS (Ashby, 1979; a measure of covert narcissism) with scores on the Boredom Proneness Scale (Farmer & Sundberg, 1986), among a sample of 106 women undergraduates.…”

College Adjustment Difficulties and the Overt and Covert Forms of Narcissism

“…In support of college adjustment difficulties among covertly narcissistic students, Rathvon and Holmstrom (1996) reported a strong correlation between covert narcissism and the MMPI-2 College Maladjustment scale. Students with higher levels of covert narcissistic personality tend to report negative affect such as anxiety, depression, anger, and lack of social assertiveness (Rathvon & Holmstrom, 1996;Wink, 1992;Wink & Donahue, 1995). A need exists to investigate the severity of those symptoms of distress.…”