Abstract
Researchers have largely treated the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS) as a unidimensional measure of covert narcissism. In the current study, we use confirmatory factor analysies (CFA) to argue that a model containing two factors fits the data better than a single-factor model. The two-factor model contains a self-centeredness and a rejection sensitivity factor. The CFAs suggests that the two-factor model fits the data better than the single-factor model for the overall sample and that the model fits the data similarly between men and women. The proposed factors have good reliability, convergent, and divergent validity with the Dark Triad traits. Last, a 2 (gender: men vs. women) × 2 (factor: self-centeredness vs. rejection sensitivity) mixed Analysis of Variance ANOVA revealed that men tend to report more self-centeredness, whereas women tend to report more rejection sensitivity. The results suggest that a two-factor model of the HSNS best describes the data for both men and women, and these two factors of the HSNS describe varying manifestations of covert narcissism between men and women.
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Participants were asked if their data were valid enough for research purposes via a yes or no question as OpenPsychometrics.com is typically used for entertainment or teaching purposes. If the participants responded “no” their data were not recorded into the publicly available dataset.
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Stone, B.M., Bartholomay, E.M. A two-factor structure of the hypersensitive narcissism scale describes gender-dependent manifestations of covert narcissism. Curr Psychol 41, 6051–6062 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01088-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-020-01088-2