Abstract
Life satisfaction is a widely-shared goal and a core theme in the field of positive psychology. From the perspective of personality, some researchers have focused on the relationship between narcissism and life satisfaction, but there is a lack of research on the underlying process between them. This study aimed to examine the relationship between narcissism and life satisfaction based on the narcissistic admiration and rivalry concept (NARC) model and explored the mediating roles of general trust and positive emotions. In addition, to avoid confusion between the concepts of narcissism and self-esteem, this study measured and controlled for self-esteem in the mediation model test. In the current study, college students completed the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire, General Trust Scale, Positive Emotions of Scale of Positive and Negative Experience Scale, Satisfaction with Life Scale, and Rosenberg Self-esteem Scale. Ultimately, a total of 912 participants were analyzed, including 398 males (43.6%) and 506 females (55.5%) (Mage = 19.58 years, SD = 1.35 years). The results showed that narcissistic admiration had a positive indirect effect on life satisfaction, while narcissistic rivalry had a negative indirect effect on life satisfaction. General trust and positive emotions were two mediators of the relationship between narcissism and life satisfaction. These findings suggest that different dimensions of narcissism have different effects on life satisfaction. Our findings have significant practical and theoretical implications for enhancing the life satisfaction of individuals with narcissistic tendencies.
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This work was supported by the National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number 19BSH130) and fund for building world-class universities (disciplines) of Renmin University of China. Project
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Yuchuan Yang: Study design, Data collection, Statistical analysis, Writing original manuscript. Minxiang Zhao: Data collection, Statistical analysis, Manuscript preparation. Yixuan Li: Data collection, Statistical analysis. Boyang Li: Data collection, Statistical analysis. Yan Dong: Study design, Statistical analysis, Writing-review & editing, Funding acquisition. Yuan Fang: Study design, Statistical analysis, Writing-review & editing. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Yang, Y., Zhao, M., Li, Y. et al. Are narcissists more satisfied with their lives? The mediating roles of general trust and positive emotions. Curr Psychol 42, 27783–27798 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03770-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-022-03770-z