Title

Understanding the association between depressive personality and hypersensitive (vulnerable) narcissism: Some preliminary findings

Authors

Authors

S. Huprich; A. Luchner; C. Roberts;G. Pouliot

Comments

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Abbreviated Journal Title

Personal. Ment. Health

Keywords

PATHOLOGICAL NARCISSISM; DISORDER INVENTORY; FIT INDEXES; DSM-V; DYSTHYMIA; CRITERIA; OVERLAP; MODELS; NUMBER; Psychiatry; Psychology, Social

Abstract

Depressive personality disorder (DPD) has been under consideration for inclusion in the DSM for over 15years. Support for its validity and utility is mixed, and it has received little attention for its structure and associated intra- and interpersonal dynamics. Interestingly, DPD is quite similar to the construct of hypersensitive, or vulnerable, narcissism (HN). Both phenomena involve tendencies towards depression, guilt and anxiety; a sense of self that is inadequate; poorly developed self-esteem; and tendencies towards masochistic suffering. In this study, measures of these constructs (the Depressive Personality Disorder Inventory [DPDI] and the Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale [HSNS]) were found to be significantly correlated in both clinical (r=0.56, n=238) and nonclinical (r=0.55, n=346) samples. Both measures were similarly correlated with a measure of interpersonal (object) relations. A confirmatory factor analysis failed to support a one- or two-factor solution. Subsequent exploratory factor analysis found that one large factor accounted for 29.47% of the variance and consisted of items related to hypersensitive self-focus. A parallel analysis suggested that six factors could be interpreted, with HSNS items loading onto the first and sixth factors and DPDI items loading onto the other factors. It is concluded that DPD and HN are closely related constructs, but that future research focusing on what accounts for the shared and nonshared variance of the two constructs is necessary. Copyright (c) 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Journal Title

Personality and Mental Health

Volume

6

Issue/Number

1

Publication Date

1-1-2012

Document Type

Article

Language

English

First Page

50

Last Page

60

WOS Identifier

WOS:000299946800005

ISSN

1932-8621

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