Sexual narcissism: a validation study

Narcissism and Subjective Arousal in Response to Sexual Aggression: The Mediating Role of Perceived Power

The present research examined the associations that narcissistic personality features had with subjective arousal in response to sexually aggressive behaviors, as well as whether these associations were mediated by the power that was believed to accompany these behaviors. Participants were 221 community members (115 women, 106 men) who completed a self-report instrument that captured narcissistic admiration (an agentic form of narcissism) and narcissistic rivalry (an antagonistic form of narcissism). In addition, participants were asked to rate how powerful they would expect to feel if they actually engaged in an array of sexually aggressive behaviors (e.g., “Tying up a person during sexual intercourse against her/his will”) as well as how sexually aroused they would be by each behavior. A multilevel mediation analysis revealed that both narcissistic admiration and narcissistic rivalry were positively associated with subjective arousal in response to sexual aggression and that these associations were mediated by the perceived power that was believed to accompany these sexually aggressive behaviors. These results suggest that perceptions of power may play an important role in the connections that narcissistic personality features have with subjective arousal in response to sexually aggressive behavior for both men and women. This discussion will focus on the implications of these results for understanding the connections between narcissism and sexual aggression in both men and women.

The Association Between Sexually Aggressive Cognitions and Pathological Personality Traits in Men

Sexual aggression, harassment, and sexually aggressive cognitions (victim blaming, sexual entitlement) are serious societal problems. Although research has examined attributes of individuals who engage in overt sexual assault, few studies have focused on individual characteristics of those who perpetuate problematic negative beliefs surrounding sexual assault. This study sought to examine the relationship between pathological personality and sexually aggressive cognitions among 242 community men. Results showed that traits including antagonism, disinhibition, and negative affectivity were associated with sexually aggressive cognitions. These results have implications for understanding sexual aggression and the role personality plays in perpetuating sexually aggressive attitudes.

The Relation of Toxoplasma Infection and Sexual Attraction to Fear, Danger, Pain, and Submissiveness

Behavioral patterns, including sexual behavioral patterns, are usually understood as biological adaptations increasing the fitness of their carriers. Many parasites, so-called manipulators, are known to induce changes in the behavior of their hosts to increase their own fitness. Such changes are also induced by a parasite of cats, Toxoplasma gondii. The most remarkable change is the fatal attraction phenomenon, the switch of infected mice’s and rat’s native fear of the smell of cats toward an attraction to this smell. The stimuli that activate fear-related circuits in healthy rodents start to also activate sex-related circuits in the infected animals. An analogy of the fatal attraction phenomenon has also been observed in infected humans. Therefore, we tried to test a hypothesis that sexual arousal by fear-, violence-, and danger-related stimuli occurs more frequently in Toxoplasma-infected subjects. A cross-sectional cohort study performed on 36,564 subjects (5,087 Toxoplasma free and 741 Toxoplasma infected) showed that infected and noninfected subjects differ in their sexual behavior, fantasies, and preferences when age, health, and the size of the place where they spent childhood were controlled ( F(24, 3719) = 2.800, p < .0001). In agreement with our a priori hypothesis, infected subjects are more often aroused by their own fear, danger, and sexual submission although they practice more conventional sexual activities than Toxoplasma-free subjects. We suggest that the later changes can be related to a decrease in the personality trait of novelty seeking in infected subjects, which is potentially a side effect of increased concentration of dopamine in their brain.

Sexual narcissism and infidelity in early marriage

There is theoretical reason to believe that narcissism is associated with infidelity. Yet, studies that have examined this association have yielded inconsistent results. Given that these inconsistencies may have emerged because prior studies used global assessments of narcissism that do not capture the extent to which the components of narcissism are activated in the sexual domain, the current research drew from two longitudinal studies of 123 married couples to examine the extent to which sexual narcissism predicted marital infidelity. Consistent with the idea that narcissism predicts sexual behavior when activated in the sexual domain, own sexual narcissism was positively associated with infidelity, controlling for own marital and sexual satisfaction, own globally-assessed narcissism, partner globally-assessed narcissism, and partner sexual narcissism. Helping to explain why this association emerged, further analyses demonstrated that it was driven by all four facets of sexual narcissism-sexual exploitation, grandiose sense of sexual skill, sexual entitlement (Study 1 only), and lack of sexual empathy (husbands only). Additionally, although partner sexual narcissism was unrelated to infidelity on average, partners' grandiose sense of sexual skill and partners' sexual entitlement (Study 2 only) were positively associated with infidelity, and partners' lack of sexual empathy was negatively associated with infidelity (Study 2 only). These findings highlight the benefits of using domain-specific measures of sexual narcissism in research on sexual behavior and the benefits of using domain-specific measures of personality more generally.

Narcissism and Internet pornography use

This study examined the relation between Internet pornography use and narcissism. Participants (N=257) completed an online survey that included questions on Internet pornography use and 3 narcissism measures (i.e., Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Pathological Narcissistic Inventory, and the Index of Sexual Narcissism). The hours spent viewing Internet pornography was positively correlated to participants' narcissism level. In addition, those who have ever used Internet pornography endorsed higher levels of all 3 measures of narcissism than did those who have never used Internet pornography.

The implications of sexual narcissism for sexual and marital satisfaction

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.

Sexual narcissism and the perpetration of sexual aggression

Despite indirect evidence linking narcissism to sexual aggression, studies directly examining this relationship have yielded inconsistent results. Likely contributing to such inconsistencies, prior research has used global measures of narcissism not sensitive to whether the components of narcissism are activated in sexual versus non-sexual domains. The current research avoided such problems by using a measure of sexual narcissism to predict sexual aggression. In a sample of 299 men and women, Study 1 validated the Sexual Narcissism Scale, a new sexuality research instrument with four subscales-Sexual Exploitation, Sexual Entitlement, Low Sexual Empathy, and Sexual Skill. Then, in a sample of 378 men, Study 2 demonstrated that sexual narcissism was associated with reports of the frequency of sexual aggression, three specific types of sexual aggression (unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, and attempted/completed rape), and the likelihood of future sexual aggression. Notably, global narcissism was unrelated to all indices of sexual aggression when sexual narcissism was controlled. That sexual narcissism outperformed global assessments of narcissism to account for variance in sexual aggression suggests that future research may benefit by examining whether sexual narcissism and other sexual-situation-specific measurements of personality can similarly provide a more valid test of the association between personality and other sexual behaviors and outcomes (e.g., contraceptive use, infidelity, sexual satisfaction).

Sexuelle Außenkontakte und -beziehungen in heterosexuellen Partnerschaften

Zusammenfassung. In der Wertehierarchie hat „Treue” für eine überwiegende Mehrheit der Bevölkerung einen hohen Stellenwert in der Partnerschaft. Die Enthüllung sexueller Außenkontakte und -beziehungen ist daher für Paare eine große Herausforderung. Ziel des Beitrags ist es, die Auftretenshäufigkeit, assoziierten Merkmale und Auswirkungen einer Enthüllung sexueller Außenkontakte bzw. -beziehungen kritisch zusammenzufassen. Nach einer systematischen Literaturrecherche werden verschiedene methodische Aspekte und Einschränkungen der referierten Studien erörtert (u.a. mehrdeutige Operationalisierungen, fast ausschließlich Querschnittstudien). In Deutschland gaben 15–26% der Frauen bzw. 17–32% der Männer im reproduktiven Alter (16–45 Jahre) sexuelle Außenkontakte bzw. -beziehungen während der aktuellen Beziehung an. Damit lagen die Auftretenshäufigkeiten etwas höher als in den US-amerikanischen, aber im Bereich der europäischen Studien. Zusammenhänge ergaben sich zu soziodemographischen, psychischen und beruflichen Merkmalen sowie Bedingungen vor und während der primären Partnerschaft. Die Enthüllung einer Außenbeziehung führte meist zu einer erheblichen psychischen Belastung beider Partner und der Partnerschaft. Sexuelle Außenkontakte können als Verbreitungsweg sexuell übertragbarer Erkrankungen gelten. Basierend auf den methodischen Einschränkungen und den Ergebnissen werden Anregungen für verschiedene Teildisziplinen der Psychologie gegeben.

Conquest by Force: A Narcissistic Reactance Theory of Rape and Sexual Coercion

Men's efforts to force women to engage in unwanted sexual activity can be explained by a combination of reactance theory and narcissism. Reactance theory suggests that deprivation of specific sexual options will cause men to desire them more, to try to reclaim them by forcing sex and by aggressing against the woman who has refused them, and assorted findings support this analysis. Narcissism is proposed to moderate the link, especially because coercion is relatively rare in response to sexual refusals. Evidence about sexually coercive men supports the narcissism hypothesis, such as by showing self-serving cognitive distortions, an excessive concern with being admired, an inflated sense of entitlement, selectively low empathy, and a broadly exploitative approach to heterosexual relations.

Sexual narcissism: measurement and correlates among college men

We investigated the factor structure of Hurlbert's Index of Sexual Narcissism (ISN) and then explored the relationship between the ISN composite score and subscales scores and various sexual constructs among 209 heterosexual male college students. An exploratory principle components factor analysis revealed four factors accounting for most of the ISN items: Sexual Knowledge and Skill, Sense of Entitlement, Emotional Distance in Sexual Relationships, and Sex as Fun. The pattern of relationships between these four subscales and other sexuality constructs supports consideration of the components of sexual narcissism as distinct. With virtually all of the sexuality variables, the sexual narcissism subscales were as predictive as the composite ISN score, or more so. Implications of these results are discussed.