Gender differences in narcissism: a meta-analytic review
- PMID: 25546498
- DOI: 10.1037/a0038231
Gender differences in narcissism: a meta-analytic review
Abstract
Despite the widely held belief that men are more narcissistic than women, there has been no systematic review to establish the magnitude, variability across measures and settings, and stability over time of this gender difference. Drawing on the biosocial approach to social role theory, a meta-analysis performed for Study 1 found that men tended to be more narcissistic than women (d = .26; k = 355 studies; N = 470,846). This gender difference remained stable in U.S. college student cohorts over time (from 1990 to 2013) and across different age groups. Study 1 also investigated gender differences in three facets of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) to reveal that the narcissism gender difference is driven by the Exploitative/Entitlement facet (d = .29; k = 44 studies; N = 44,108) and Leadership/Authority facet (d = .20; k = 40 studies; N = 44,739); whereas the gender difference in Grandiose/Exhibitionism (d = .04; k = 39 studies; N = 42,460) was much smaller. We further investigated a less-studied form of narcissism called vulnerable narcissism-which is marked by low self-esteem, neuroticism, and introversion-to find that (in contrast to the more commonly studied form of narcissism found in the DSM and the NPI) men and women did not differ on vulnerable narcissism (d = -.04; k = 42 studies; N = 46,735). Study 2 used item response theory to rule out the possibility that measurement bias accounts for observed gender differences in the three facets of the NPI (N = 19,001). Results revealed that observed gender differences were not explained by measurement bias and thus can be interpreted as true sex differences. Discussion focuses on the implications for the biosocial construction model of gender differences, for the etiology of narcissism, for clinical applications, and for the role of narcissism in helping to explain gender differences in leadership and aggressive behavior. Readers are warned against overapplying small effect sizes to perpetuate gender stereotypes.
PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved.
Similar articles
-
A test of two brief measures of grandiose narcissism: the narcissistic personality inventory-13 and the narcissistic personality inventory-16.Psychol Assess. 2013 Dec;25(4):1120-36. doi: 10.1037/a0033192. Epub 2013 Jul 1. Psychol Assess. 2013. PMID: 23815119
-
The Narcissism Epidemic Is Dead; Long Live the Narcissism Epidemic.Psychol Sci. 2017 Dec;28(12):1833-1847. doi: 10.1177/0956797617724208. Epub 2017 Oct 24. Psychol Sci. 2017. PMID: 29065280
-
The Narcissistic Personality Inventory: a useful tool for assessing pathological narcissism? Evidence from patients with Narcissistic Personality Disorder.J Pers Assess. 2013;95(3):301-8. doi: 10.1080/00223891.2012.732636. Epub 2012 Oct 26. J Pers Assess. 2013. PMID: 23101721
-
Female Narcissism: Assessment, Aetiology, and Behavioural Manifestations.Psychol Rep. 2022 Dec;125(6):2833-2864. doi: 10.1177/00332941211027322. Epub 2021 Jun 22. Psychol Rep. 2022. PMID: 34154472 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Issues resolved and unresolved in pathological narcissism.Curr Opin Psychol. 2018 Jun;21:74-79. doi: 10.1016/j.copsyc.2017.10.001. Epub 2017 Oct 13. Curr Opin Psychol. 2018. PMID: 29059578 Review.
Cited by
-
The use of social media as a two-way mirror for narcissistic adolescents from Austria, Belgium, South-Korea, and Spain.PLoS One. 2022 Aug 31;17(8):e0272868. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0272868. eCollection 2022. PLoS One. 2022. PMID: 36044422 Free PMC article.
-
Narcissism and Exercise Addiction: The Mediating Roles of Exercise-Related Motives.Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Apr 16;18(8):4243. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18084243. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021. PMID: 33923617 Free PMC article.
-
Oneself is more important: Exploring the role of narcissism and fear of negative evaluation in the relationship between subjective social class and dishonesty.PLoS One. 2019 Jun 7;14(6):e0218076. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0218076. eCollection 2019. PLoS One. 2019. PMID: 31173620 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Self-presentation in Online Professional Networks: Men's Higher and Women's Lower Facial Prominence in Self-created Profile Images.Front Psychol. 2018 Jan 17;8:2295. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.02295. eCollection 2017. Front Psychol. 2018. PMID: 29387029 Free PMC article.
-
Structural connectivity of grandiose versus vulnerable narcissism as models of social dominance and subordination.Sci Rep. 2023 Sep 26;13(1):16098. doi: 10.1038/s41598-023-41098-1. Sci Rep. 2023. PMID: 37752194 Free PMC article.
Publication types
MeSH terms
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources
Medical