Abstract
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) has greatly facilitated the scientific study of trait narcissism. However, there is great variability in the reported reliability of scores on the NPI. This study meta-analyzes coefficient alpha for scores on the NPI and its sub-scales (e.g. entitlement) with transformed alphas weighted by the inverse of the variance of alpha. Three coders evaluated 1213 individual studies for possible inclusion and determined that 1122 independent samples were suitable for coding on 12 different characteristics of the sample, scale, and study. A fourth author cross-coded 15 percent of these samples resulting in 85 percent overall agreement. In the independent samples, comprised of 195,038 self-reports, the expected population coefficient alpha for the NPI was .82. The population value for alpha on the various sub-scales ranged from .48 for narcissistic self-sufficiency to .76 for narcissistic leadership/authority. Because significant heterogeneity existed in coded study alphas for the overall NPI, moderator tests and an explanatory model were also conducted and reported. It was found that longer scales, the use of a Likert response scale as opposed to the original forced choice response format, higher mean scores and larger standard deviations on the scale, as well as the use of samples with a larger percentage of female respondents were all positively related to the expected population alpha for scores on the overall NPI. These results will likely aid researchers who are concerned with the reliability of scores on the NPI in their research on non-clinical subjects.
Highlights
Narcissism is a insidious personality trait characterized by grandiosity, selfabsorption, and a lack of empathy that can make life difficult for the narcissist [1] as well as for others [2,3]
Reliability generalization began as a technique designed to determine the study, scale, and sample characteristics associated with the reliability of scores on an instrument [23]
A reliability generalization (RG) study allows researchers to determine the expected population coefficient alpha for scores on an instrument as well as the study, scale, and sample characteristics associated with the reliability of scores in independent samples of respondents
Summary
Narcissism is a insidious personality trait characterized by grandiosity, selfabsorption, and a lack of empathy that can make life difficult for the narcissist [1] as well as for others [2,3]. The scientific study of sub-clinical narcissism was greatly aided by the development of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) [4] which is the most commonly used narcissism instrument available [5]. Ongoing problems with the factor structure have led to efforts to shorten the NPI [14] and to develop alternative measures such as the Pathological Narcissism Inventory [15]. Because it measures multiple components of narcissism, the NPI is not a unidimensional scale and combining adaptive components of narcissism with its maladaptive components can be problematic. It has been recommended that the NPI sub-scale scores should not be summed for an overall measure of narcissism [13] but there is some evidence that the sub-scales as stand-alone measures may be unidimensional [16]
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