Structure, validity, and development of a brief version of the Narcissistic Inventory-Revised and its relation to current measures of vulnerable and grandiose narcissism

Abstract

This research assessed the internal structure and validity of the Narcissistic Inventory-Revised (NI-R). As described by the authors, its 42 items resulted in a single total score measuring vulnerable narcissism but in fact showing correlations with both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. In two studies (total N=1733), we present the new three-factor structure of the established NI-R consisting of Admiration, Pretension, and Mistrust. The structure proved to be replicable and reliable. As criteria for assessing the construct validity of the NI-R, we applied the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, which measures grandiose narcissism, and the Brief Pathological Narcissism Inventory, which measures vulnerable narcissism. Both inventories are recent developments whose factor structures have been demonstrated to be generally replicable in this research. The proposed dimensions of the NI-R showed differential correlations with these measures as well as with the external criteria of life satisfaction and emotion regulation strategies. However, the overlap between the NI-R dimensions with the measures of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism is limited, suggesting that the NI-R might capture aspects of narcissism beyond these two facets.