Unmasking gender differences in narcissism within intimate partner violence

Abstract

Theoretical understanding of gender differences in narcissistic presentation is underdeveloped due to an overrepresentation of males in the narcissism literature. This study investigated gender differences in manifestations of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism within the context of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Participants (N = 328; 176 females) recruited from the normal population completed scales for grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and physical/sexual and psychological abuse. Multivariate regression analyses were conducted to investigate gender differences in narcissism and predictions for perpetration of IPV in each gender. Results showed that females scored significantly higher on vulnerable narcissism than males, but no gender differences were found for grandiose narcissism. In males, vulnerable narcissism was a significant positive predictor of physical/sexual abuse perpetration, and grandiose narcissism was a significant positive predictor of psychological abuse. For females, only vulnerable narcissism emerged as a significant positive predictor of physical/sexual and psychological abuse perpetration. Findings provide novel insights into how gender is expressed differently in the presentation of narcissism, and how these differences are related to partner violence outcomes. Theoretical implications of these findings are discussed and suggestions for future research are made.