Narcissism and Hypomania Revisited: a Test of the Similarities and Differences in Their Empirical Networks

Abstract

The goal of the present research was to clarify the relationship between narcissism and hypomania, both of which are multidimensional in nature. More specifically, this study examines the relations between two narcissism dimensions (grandiose and vulnerable) and three hypomania dimensions (social vitality, mood volatility, and excitement) in relation to adverse developmental experiences, affective experiences, a multidimensional model of impulsivity, and general personality traits. The absolute similarities across the patterns of correlations manifested by the narcissism and hypomania subscales were then examined. Like the multidimensionality found in narcissism in which grandiose and vulnerable narcissism manifest unrelated or negatively related empirical networks, the same was true for the hypomania dimensions. Grandiose narcissism manifested substantially similar empirical profiles with the hypomania components of social vitality and, to a lesser extent, excitement. Conversely, vulnerable narcissism manifested a profile quite similar to a third hypomania component – mood volatility. These findings are discussed in the context of the difficulty in developing robust and coherent research literatures when using multidimensional total scores for either narcissism or hypomania.