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The Implications of Sexual Narcissism for Sexual and Marital Satisfaction

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Abstract

There is theoretical reason to believe narcissism is associated with a number of sexual behaviors and outcomes that affect both sexual and relationship satisfaction. Nevertheless, research on the association between personality and behavior demonstrates that personality traits, such as narcissism, only predict behavior in domains that activate the components of the personality system. Given that global assessments of narcissism do not capture the extent to which the components of narcissism are activated in the sexual domain, we examined the extent to which the facets of a domain-specific measure of sexual narcissism accounted for the trajectories of own and partner sexual and marital satisfaction over the first five years of 120 new marriages. Three of the four facets of sexual narcissism (sexual exploitation, sexual entitlement, and low sexual empathy) were negatively associated with both trajectories. The fourth facet (sexual skill) was positively associated with both trajectories. Notably, sexual satisfaction mediated the effect of every facet of sexual narcissism on marital satisfaction. A global assessment of narcissism was not associated with either trajectory of satisfaction. These findings highlight (1) the importance of narcissistic tendencies for sexual processes, (2) the benefits of using domain-specific measures of personality in research on sexual behavior, and (3) the importance of examining the implications of the specific facets of personality constructs.

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Notes

  1. This article is based on the social-personality conceptualization of narcissism, rather than the clinical conceptualization of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD). Although there are similarities between these two conceptualizations, there are also important distinctions between them. Most notably, whereas NPD is a clinical disorder that manifests in a small minority of people, narcissism is an individual difference variable that manifests on a continuum in the general population (see Miller & Campbell, 2008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Florida State University, 1107 W. Call St., Tallahassee, FL, 32306-4301, USA

    James K. McNulty

  2. Division of Infectious Diseases, School of Medicine, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Laura Widman

  3. Department of Health Behavior and Health Education, Gillings School of Global Public Health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Laura Widman

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  1. James K. McNulty
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  2. Laura Widman
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Correspondence to James K. McNulty.

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McNulty, J.K., Widman, L. The Implications of Sexual Narcissism for Sexual and Marital Satisfaction. Arch Sex Behav 42, 1021–1032 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0041-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10508-012-0041-5

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