Alaby, Tania S

Cooper, A Bell

Cooper, Patrick J

Pauletti, Rachel E

Petkovic, Kristina

Stonecypher, Jordan C

English

The study examines how self-esteem and narcissism contribute to academic entitlement (externalized responsibility, entitled expectations), college self-efficacy, and personality measures (adjustment, sociability, interpersonal sensitivity, prudence, inquisitiveness, learning approach). Results reveal that researchers should continue to treat self-esteem and narcissism as distinct constructs with different outcomes

Alaby-Varma, Tania S

Lynn University: SPIRAL (Scholarly Publications, Institutional Repository and Archives at Lynn)

How Do Self‐Esteem and Narcissism Contribute  to Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes?Jordan C. Stonecypher1, Tania S. Alaby1,  Kristina Petkovic1,  Rachel E. Pauletti1,  Patrick J. Cooper1,  A. Bell Cooper21 Lynn University, 2Florida Atlantic University.IntroductionResearch suggests that self‐esteem and narcissism are distinctconstructs (Pauletti, Menon, Menon, & Perry, 2012) with vastlydifferent outcomes.• A high sense of self‐esteem is generally associated with positiveoutcomes such as relationship and job satisfaction, higheroccupational status, and better physical health (Orth, Robins, &Widaman, 2012)• Narcissism is associated with arrogance, intolerance, lack ofempathy, and aggression (Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001). There hasbeen little research that pits narcissism and self‐esteem ascompeting contributors to academic outcomes such as academicentitlement and college self‐efficacy.The current study examines how self‐esteem and narcissismcontribute to academic entitlement (specifically, one’s perception ofexternalized responsibility, which captures an entitled lack ofresponsibility for one’s education, and entitled expectations, whichcaptures students’ entitled expectations about professors and theircourse policies), college self‐efficacy, and personality measures. Wefocus on the following question: how do self‐esteem and narcissismcontribute to these outcomes relative to one another?N = 192 (34.6% Male, 65.4% Female) collegestudents (M age = 18.80 years old)• Rosenberg Self‐Esteem Scale ‐ a 3‐pointscale assessing a person’s sense of self‐worth• Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI‐13) ‐ a2‐point scale assessing grandiosity in the self• Academic Entitlement ‐ 7‐point scaleassessing Externalized Responsibility andEntitled Expectations• College Self‐Efficacy Inventory ‐ a 10‐ pointscale assessing students’ academic behaviorand confidence• Hogan Personality Inventory (HPI) ‐ Apersonality inventory that assessed apersons level of Adjustment, Ambition,Sociability, Interpersonal Sensitivity,Prudence, Inquisitive, and Learning ApproachSelf‐esteem was positively associated with college self‐efficacy (b = .42, p <.001) and the personality measure of prudence (i.e. wisdom, goodjudgement, and good use of reason; b = .23, p = .007), while it wasnegatively associated with externalized responsibility (i.e., entitled lack ofresponsibility for one’s education; b = ‐.21, p = .012).Surprisingly, narcissism was not associated with either subscale ofacademic entitlement. Narcissism was associated with the personalitymeasures sociability (b = .24 p = .004) and interpersonal sensitivity (b = .23,p = .008). It interesting to note that the relationship between narcissismand interpersonal sensitivity was the opposite of what would be expected,given conventional wisdom about narcissists.Predictor VariablesOutcomes Self‐Esteem NarcissismCollege Self‐efficacy .42 (.000) ‐.01 (.932)Externalized Responsibility ‐.21 (.012) .03 (.688)Entitled Expectations ‐.12 (.189) .12 (.164)Adjustment ‐.30 (.000) .08 (.323)Sociability .15 (.068) .24 (.004)Interpersonal Sensitivity .03 (.753) .23 (.008)Prudence .26 (.007) .12 (.149)Inquisitive ‐.01 (.879) .13 (.109)Learning Approach .14 (.093) .09 (.292)DiscussionMethodsThe results of this study suggest that researchers should continue to treat self‐esteem andnarcissism as distinct constructs with different outcomes, particularly in a college population. Self‐esteem should be fostered, as it is directly associated with positive academic outcomes includingincreased college self‐efficacy, internalization of positive academic goals, and prudence.Alternatively, the results do not support the assumption that narcissistic individuals are inherentlyentitled in an academic setting. In fact, the associations seen here suggest only that narcissism isassociated generally positive characteristics, such as sociability and interpersonal sensitivity. It couldbe that narcissists aim to garner and maintain a grandiose sense of self in more of a social setting(e.g., on social media) as opposed to an academic setting. Future research should investigate thispossibility.ResultsNote. Table entries are betas with corresponding p‐values in parentheses.

How Do Self‐Esteem and Narcissism Contribute to Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes?

https://spiral.lynn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1479&context=facpubs

How Do Self‐Esteem and Narcissism Contribute to Psychosocial and Academic Outcomes?

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Lynn University: SPIRAL (Scholarly Publications, Institutional Repository and Archives at Lynn)