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Revitalizing Narcissistic Perfectionism: Evidence of the Reliability and the Validity of an Emerging Construct

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Abstract

Theorists have long speculated about narcissistic perfectionism—an outwardly directed need for perfection marked by grandiosity, entitlement, and lofty expectations for others. This study provides evidence of reliability and predictive validity for an emerging model of narcissistic perfectionism using two waves of measurement and multiple data sources (self-report and informant-report) in a sample of 155 undergraduate students. As hypothesized, confirmatory factor analysis showed manifest indicators of narcissistic perfectionism cohered together as a constellation of traits while showing reliability and factorial validity across time and source. Hierarchical multiple regression indicated narcissistic perfectionism uniquely and incrementally predicted anger beyond competing measures of other-oriented perfectionism and narcissism. Informant-reports of narcissistic perfectionism uniquely predicted anger beyond self-reports. These results offer promising empirical support for the often discussed, but seldom tested, concept of narcissistic perfectionism.

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Notes

  1. It is possible that the effect of narcissistic perfectionism on anger may result from interactions among individual indicators. However, moderated multiple regression analyses showed individual indicators of perfectionism (OOP, PI-HSO) and indicators of narcissism (DD-N, PES) did not interact to predict anger beyond main effects of the four indicators.

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Acknowledgments

This manuscript was based on a research project conducted by Logan J. Nealis as part of his comprehensive examinations. Logan J. Nealis was supervised by Simon B. Sherry. This manuscript was funded by a grant awarded to Simon B. Sherry, Sherry H. Stewart, and Dayna L. Sherry from the Capital Health Research Fund. Logan J. Nealis was supported by a Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Martin Smith, Cynthia Ramasubbu, and Stephane MacLean are thanked for their research assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, Dalhousie University, Life Sciences Centre, 1355 Oxford Street, PO BOX 15000, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 4R2

    Logan J. Nealis, Simon B. Sherry, Sherry H. Stewart & Matthew A. Macneil

  2. Department of Psychology, Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada

    Dayna L. Lee-Baggley

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Dalhousie University, 5909 Veterans’ Memorial Lane, 8th Floor, Abbie J. Lane Memorial Building, QEII Health Sciences Centre, Halifax, NS, Canada, B3H 2E2

    Simon B. Sherry & Sherry H. Stewart

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Correspondence to Simon B. Sherry.

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Logan J. Nealis, Simon B. Sherry, Dayna L. Sherry, Sherry H. Stewart, and Matthew A. Macneil declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee, and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Nealis, L.J., Sherry, S.B., Lee-Baggley, D.L. et al. Revitalizing Narcissistic Perfectionism: Evidence of the Reliability and the Validity of an Emerging Construct. J Psychopathol Behav Assess 38, 493–504 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-016-9537-y

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