Abstract
Social anxiety symptoms are associated with shyness and submissiveness. However, recent work has identified a subtype within Social Anxiety Disorder characterized by high levels of anger and impulsivity. This subtype bears conceptual similarities to prior accounts of vulnerable narcissism (e.g., hypersensitivity and interpersonal reactivity). However, no prior work has systematically evaluated the common and potentially distinguishing factors of these conceptually similar yet phenotypically distinct groups. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to utilize a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to distinguish whether vulnerable narcissistic traits are present within high anger, risk-prone individuals who are also socially anxious, or alternatively whether LPA can differentiate these profiles based on response patterns to theoretically relevant variables. LPA identified five distinct profiles based on varying levels of social anxiety, anger, impulsivity, and narcissistic traits, and supported the existence of the angry-impulsive socially anxious subtype as well as a relationship between this group and self-reported narcissistic traits. These findings have implications for treatment of this subgroup, and may provide a foundation for future research investigating why interventions for adults with SAD and angry-impulsive features often have limited success.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akaike, H. (1987). Factor analysis and AIC. Psychometrika, 52(3), 317–332. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02294359.
Akhtar, S., & Thomson, J. A. (1982). Overview: Narcissistic personality disorder. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 139(1), 12–20. https://doi.org/10.1176/ajp.139.1.12.
Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed.). Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association, & Author (2013). https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.
Arble, E. P. (2008). Evaluating the Psychometric Properties of the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale: Implications for the Distinction of Covert and Overt Narcissism. Masters Thesis and Doctoral Dissertations, Paper 236.
Ashton, M. C., & Lee, K. (2009). The HEXACO-60: A short measure of the major dimensions of personality. Journal of Personality Assessment, 91(4), 340–345. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223890902935878.
Atlas, G. D., & Them, M. A. (2008). Narcissism and sensitivity to criticism: A preliminary investigation. Current Psychology: A Journal for Diverse Perspectives on Diverse Psychological Issues, 27(1), 62–76. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-008-9023-0.
Back, M. D., Küfner, A. C. P., Dufner, M., Gerlach, T. M., Rauthmann, J. F., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2013). Narcissistic admiration and rivalry: Disentangling the bright and dark sides of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105(6), 1013–1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034431.
Besser, A., & Priel, B. (2010). Grandiose narcissism versus vulnerable narcissism in threatening situations: Emotional reactions to achievement failure and interpersonal rejection. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 29(8), 874–902. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2010.29.8.874.
Bolton, J., Cox, B., Clara, I., & Sareen, J. (2006). Use of alcohol and drugs to self-medicate anxiety disorders in a nationally representative sample. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 194(11), 818–825. https://doi.org/10.1097/01.nmd.0000244481.63148.98.
Brailovskaia, J., Rohmann, E., Bierhoff, H. W., & Margraf, J. (2020). The anxious addictive narcissist: The relationship between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, anxiety symptoms and Facebook Addiction. PloS One, 15(11), e0241632. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0241632.
Brown, T. A., Chorpita, B. F., & Barlow, D. H. (1998). Structural relationships among dimensions of the DSM-IV anxiety and mood disorders and dimensions of negative affect, positive affect, and autonomic arousal. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 107(2), 179–192. https://doi.org/10.1037//0021-843x.107.2.179.
Buckner, J. D., Schmidt, N. B., Lang, A. R., Small, J. W., Schlauch, R. C., & Lewinsohn, P. M. (2008). Specificity of social anxiety disorder as a risk factor for alcohol and cannabis dependence. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 42(3), 230–239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychires.2007.01.002.
Byrne, B. M. (2012). Structural equation modeling with Mplus: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Routledge/Taylor & Francis Group. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203807644.
Celeux, G., & Soromenho, G. (1996). An entropy criterion for assessing the number of clusters in a mixture model. Journal of Classification, 13, 195–212. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01246098.
Clark, D. M., & Wells, A. (1995). A cognitive model of social phobia. In R. G. Heimberg, M. R. Liebowitz, D. A. Hope, & F. R. Schneier (Eds.), Social Phobia: Diagnosis, assessment and treatment (pp. 69–93). Guilford Press.
Collins, L. M., & Lanza, S. T. (2010). Latent class and latent transition analysis: With applications in the social, behavioral, and Health Sciences. John Wiley and Sons Inc. https://doi.org/10.1002/9780470567333.
Cooper, A. M. (1981). Narcissism. In S. Arieti, H. Keith, & H. Brodie (Eds.), American handbook of psychiatry (Vol. 4, pp. 297–316). Basic Books.
Cukrowicz, K. C., & Joiner, T. E. (2005). Treating the mischances of Character, simply and effectively. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 35(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-005-2697-9.
Cukrowicz, K. C., Poindexter, E. K., & Joiner, T. E. Jr. (2011). Cognitive Behavioral Approaches to the Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorder. In the Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (eds W.K. Campbell and J.D. Miller). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118093108.ch41.
Dixon, L. J., Tull, M. T., Lee, A. A., Kimbrel, N. A., & Gratz, K. L. (2017). The role of emotion-driven impulse control difficulties in the relation between social anxiety and aggression. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 73(6), 722–732. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.22372.
Erwin, B. A., Heimberg, R. G., Schneier, F. R., & Liebowitz, M. R. (2003). Anger experience and expression in social anxiety disorder: Pretreatment profile and predictors of attrition and response to cognitive-behavioral treatment. Behavior Therapy, 34(3), 331–350. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(03)80004-7.
Fegan, R. B., & Bland, A. R. (2021). Social Media Use and Vulnerable Narcissism: The Differential roles of Oversensitivity and Egocentricity. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(17), 9172. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18179172.
Foster, J. D., & Trimm, R. F. (2008). On being eager and uninhibited: Narcissism and approach-avoidance motivation. Personality & Social Psychology Bulletin, 34(7), 1004–1017. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167208316688. 4.
Gore, W. L., & Widiger, T. A. (2016). Fluctuation between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Personality Disorders, 7(4), 363–371. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000181.
Gratz, K. L., & Roemer, L. (2004). Multidimensional assessment of emotion regulation and dysregulation: Development, factor structure, and initial validation of the difficulties in emotion regulation scale. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment, 26(1), 41–54.
Hendin, H. M., & Cheek, J. M. (1997). Assessing hypersensitive narcissism: A re-examination of Murray’s narcissism scale. Journal of Research in Personality, 31, 588–599.
Henson, J. M., Reise, S. P., & Kim, K. H. (2007). Detecting mixtures from structural model differences using latent variable mixture modeling: A comparison of relative Model Fit statistics. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 14(2), 202–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705510709336744.
Hofmann, S. G. (2007). Cognitive factors that maintain social anxiety disorder: A comprehensive model and its treatment implications. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 36(4), 193–209. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506070701421313.
Hofmann, S. G., Heinrichs, N., & Moscovitch, D. A. (2004). The nature and expression of social phobia: Toward a new classification. Clinical Psychology Review, 24(7), 769–797. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2004.07.004.
Kacel, E. L., Ennis, N., & Pereira, D. B. (2017). Narcissistic personality disorder in Clinical Health psychology practice: Case studies of Comorbid Psychological distress and life-limiting illness. Behavioral Medicine (Washington D C), 43(3), 156–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/08964289.2017.1301875.
Kachin, K. E., Newman, M. G., & Pincus, A. L. (2001). An interpersonal problem approach to the division of social phobia subtypes. Behavior Therapy, 32(3), 479–501. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0005-7894(01)80032-0.
Kashdan, T. B. (2007). Social anxiety spectrum and diminished positive experiences: Theoretical synthesis and meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology Review, 27(3), 348–365. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2006.12.003.
Kashdan, T. B., & Hofmann, S. G. (2008). The high-novelty-seeking, impulsive subtype of generalized social anxiety disorder. Depression and Anxiety, 25(6), 535–541. https://doi.org/10.1002/da.20382.
Kashdan, T. B., Elhai, J. D., & Breen, W. E. (2008). Social anxiety and disinhibition: An analysis of curiosity and social rank appraisals, approach-avoidance conflicts, and disruptive risk-taking behavior. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 22(6), 925–939. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2007.09.009.
Kashdan, T. B., McKnight, P. E., Richey, J. A., & Hofmann, S. G. (2009). When social anxiety disorder co-exists with risk-prone, approach behavior: Investigating a neglected, meaningful subset of people in the National Comorbidity Survey-Replication. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 47(7), 559–568. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brat.2009.03.010.
Kernberg, O. F. (1975). Borderline conditions and pathological narcissism. Aronson.
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling (3rd ed.). The Guilford.
Krizan, Z., & Herlache, A. D. (2018). The Narcissism Spectrum Model: A synthetic view of narcissistic personality. Personality and Social Psychology Review: An Official Journal of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology Inc, 22(1), 3–31. https://doi.org/10.1177/1088868316685018.
Leary, M. R., & Jongman-Sereno, K. P. (2014). Social anxiety as an early warning system: A refinement and extension of the self-presentation theory of social anxiety. In S. G. Hofmann & P. M. DiBartolo (Eds.), Social anxiety: Clinical, developmental, and social perspectives (pp. 579–597). Elsevier Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-394427-6.00020-0.
Lubke, G. H., & Muthén, B. (2005). Investigating population heterogeneity with factor mixture models. Psychological Methods, 10(1), 21–39. https://doi.org/10.1037/1082-989X.10.1.21.
Lyvers, M., Salviani, A., Costan, S., & Thorberg, F. A. (2022). Alexithymia, narcissism and social anxiety in relation to social media and internet addiction symptoms. International Journal of Psychology: Journal International de Psychologie. https://doi.org/10.1002/ijop.12840Advance online publication.
Maples-Keller, J. L., Williamson, R. L., Sleep, C. E., Carter, N. T., Campbell, W. K., & Miller, J. D. (2019). Using item response theory to develop a 60-Item representation of the NEO PI-R using the International Personality Item Pool: Development of the IPIP-NEO-60. Journal of Personality Assessment, 101(1), 4–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/00223891.2017.1381968. https://doi-org.ezproxy.lib.vt.edu/.
Miller, J. D., & Campbell, W. K. (2008). Comparing clinical and social-personality conceptualizations of narcissism. Journal of Personality, 76(3), 449–476. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00492.x.
Miller, J. D., Campbell, W. K., Young, D. L., Lakey, C. E., Reidy, D. E., Zeichner, A., & Goodie, A. S. (2009). Examining the relations among narcissism, impulsivity, and self-defeating behaviors. Journal of Personality, 77(3), 761–794. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2009.00564.x.
Miller, J. D., Dir, A., Gentile, B., Wilson, L., Pryor, L. R., & Campbell, W. K. (2010). Searching for a vulnerable dark triad: Comparing factor 2 psychopathy, vulnerable narcissism, and borderline personality disorder. Journal of Personality, 78, 1529–1564.
Millon, T., & Grossman, S. (2005). Psychotherapy for the narcissistic personality disorder. Oxford textbook of psychotherapy. Oxford University Press.
Morf, C. C. (2006). Personality reflected in a coherent idiosyncratic interplay of intra- and interpersonal Self-Regulatory processes. Journal of Personality, 74(6), 1527–1556. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00419.x.
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (1998–2011). Mplus User’s Guide. Sixth Edition. Los Angeles, CA: Muthén & Muthén.
Pastor, D., Barron, K., Miller, B., & Davis-Becker, S. (2007). A latent profile analysis of college students’ achievement goal orientation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 32, 8–47. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2006.10.003.
Pincus, A. L. (2012). The Pathological Narcissism Inventory. In J. S. Ogrodniczuk (Ed.), Understanding and treating pathological narcissism (pp. 93–110). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/14041-006.
Pincus, A. L., & Lukowitsky, M. R. (2010). Pathological narcissism and narcissistic personality disorder. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology, 6, 421–446. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.clinpsy.121208.131215.
Pincus, A. L., Ansell, E. B., Pimentel, C. A., Cain, N. M., Wright, A. G. C., & Levy, K. N. (2009). Initial construction and validation of the pathological narcissism inventory. Psychological Assessment, 21(3), 365–379. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0016530.
Pincus, A. L., Cain, N. M., & Wright, A. G. C. (2014). Narcissistic grandiosity and narcissistic vulnerability in psychotherapy. Personality Disorders: Theory Research and Treatment, 5(4), 439–443. https://doi.org/10.1037/per0000031.
Rapee, R. M., & Heimberg, R. G. (1997). A cognitive-behavioral model of anxiety in social phobia. Behaviour Research and Therapy, 35(8), 741–756. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0005-7967(97)00022-3.
Reed-Knight, B., & Fischer, S. (2011). Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorder Symptoms in a Dialectical Behavior Therapy Framework. In the Handbook of Narcissism and Narcissistic Personality Disorder (eds W.K. Campbell and J.D. Miller). https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118093108.ch42.
Roberts, C. R., & Huprich, S. K. (2012). Categorical and dimensional models of pathological narcissism: The case of Mr. Jameson. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 68(8), 898–907. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.21894.
Sclove, S. L. (1987). Application of model-selection criteria to some problems in multivariate analysis. Psychometrika, 52, 333–343.
Soto, C. J., & John, O. P. (2017). The next big five inventory (BFI-2): Developing and assessing a hierarchical model with 15 facets to enhance bandwidth, fidelity, and predictive power. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113(1), 117–143. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000096.
Spurk, D., Hirschi, A., Wang, M., Valero, D., & Kauffeld, S. (2020). Latent profile analysis: A review and how to guide of its application within vocational behavior research. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 120, 103445. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jvb.2020.103445.
Stasik-O’Brien, S. M., Brock, R. L., Chmielewski, M., Naragon-Gainey, K., Koffel, E., McDade-Montez, E., O’Hara, M. W., & Watson, D. (2019). Clinical utility of the inventory of depression and anxiety symptoms (IDAS). Assessment, 26(5), 944–960. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191118790036.
Tanzilli, A., Colli, A., Muzi, L., & Lingiardi, V. (2015). Clinician emotional response toward narcissistic patients: A preliminary Report. Research in Psychotherapy: Psychopathology Process and Outcome, 18(1). https://doi.org/10.4081/ripppo.2015.174.
Tein, J. Y., Coxe, S., & Cham, H. (2013). Statistical power to detect the correct number of classes in Latent Profile Analysis. Structural Equation Modeling: A Multidisciplinary Journal, 20(4), 640–657. https://doi.org/10.1080/10705511.2013.824781.
Town, J. M., Abbass, A., & Hardy, G. (2011). Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy for personality disorders: A critical review of randomized controlled trials. Journal of Personality Disorders, 25(6), 723–740. https://doi.org/10.1521/pedi.2011.25.6.723.
Turkat, I. D., & Maisto, S. A. (1985). Personality disorders: Application of the experimental method to the formulation and modification of personality disorders. In D. H. Barlow (Ed.), Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step by step treatment manual. Guilford Press.
Van Zalk, N., Tillfors, M., & Mörtberg, E. (2020). Social anxiety-impulsivity subgroups and links to later emotional Adjustment in Adolescence: A latent transition analysis. The Journal of Early Adolescence, 40(9), 1397–1426. https://doi.org/10.1177/0272431620919153.
Vazire, S., & Funder, D. C. (2006). Impulsivity and the self-defeating behavior of narcissists. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 10(2), 154–165. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327957pspr1002_4.
Versella, M. V., Piccirillo, M. L., Potter, C. M., Olino, T. M., & Heimberg, R. G. (2016). Anger profiles in social anxiety disorder. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 37, 21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2015.10.008.
Watson, D., & Friend, R. (1969). Measurement of social-evaluative anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33(4), 448–457. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0027806.
Watson, D., O’Hara, M. W., Simms, L. J., Kotov, R., Chmielewski, M., McDade-Montez, E. A., Gamez, W., & Stuart, S. (2007). Development and validation of the inventory of depression and anxiety symptoms (IDAS). Psychological Assessment, 19(3), 253–268. https://doi.org/10.1037/1040-3590.19.3.253.
Watson, D., O’Hara, M. W., Naragon-Gainey, K., Koffel, E., Chmielewski, M., Kotov, R., Stasik, S. M., & Ruggero, C. J. (2012). Development and validation of new anxiety and bipolar symptom scales for an expanded version of the IDAS (the IDAS-II). Assessment, 19(4), 399–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/1073191112449857.
Wink, P. (1991). Two faces of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 61(4), 590–597. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-3514.61.4.590.
Zeigler-Hill, V., Clark, C. B., & Pickard, J. D. (2008). Narcissistic subtypes and contingent self-esteem: Do all narcissists base their self-esteem on the same domains? Journal of Personality, 76(4), 753–774. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2008.00503.x.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Electronic Supplementary Material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Villalongo Andino, M., Hauenstein, N., Stanton, K. et al. Unraveling the Ties that Bind: Social Anxiety is Differentially Related to Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissistic Traits. J Psychopathol Behav Assess (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-024-10131-6
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10862-024-10131-6