Relationships Among Facets of Narcissism, Symptoms of Eating Disorders, and Symptoms of Muscle Dysmorphia

Abstract

Previous research exploring the relationship between muscle dysmorphia, drive for muscularity, and disordered eating behaviors in relation to personality characteristics, particularly narcissism, has yielded interesting, though often conflictual, results. This study explores these relationships through assessing muscle dysmorphia, drive for muscularity, and disordered eating in relation to grandiose and hypersensitive narcissism. Participants included 173 male college students who were recruited via departmental Study Board. Participants completed demographic information, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory-40, the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, the Muscle Dysmorphia Questionnaire, the Drive for Muscularity Scale, and the Eating Attitudes Test-26. Results indicated a positive relationship between muscle dysmorphia symptomatology and hypersensitive narcissism, and positive relationships between drive for muscularity and facets of grandiose narcissism. Results indicated that disordered eating was not related to narcissism. Results provide direction for the further study of the dimensional structure of the construct of narcissism and treatment implications for those suffering from muscle dysmorphia.