Development and Preliminary Validation of a Narcissism Assessment Scale Based on the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) Model

Abstract

IntroductionA sense of entitlement, thoughts of deserving more than others, and belief of having superior abilities compared to other people characterizes narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Encompassing this personality disorder and other mental conditions, the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) is an evidence-based, dimensional model covering not only clinical symptoms but also pathological traits. Material and methodsOur study aimed to develop a self-report scale, the IDCP-NPD, for screening pathological traits of NPD from the perspective of the HiTOP facets of the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 (PID-5), factors of the Computerized Adaptive Assessment of Personality Disorder-Static Form (CAT-PD-SF), scales of the Five-Factor Narcissism Inventory (FFNI), and the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS). ResultsThe IDCP-NPD comprised 65 items in two factors: Antisocial Grandiosity and Interpersonal Dominance. Internal structure reliability was good (>.80). The factors showed associations with the expected external measures, and the groups based on the scores in the NPD external measures showed big to huge differences. ConclusionsOur findings suggested the IDCP-NPD is a helpful measure to screen the NPD traits in the clinical context. Additionally, the structure observed for the IDCP-STPD confirms the spectrum level of the HiTOP.