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Abstract A theoretical perspective on grandiose narcissism suggests four forms of it (sanctity, admiration, heroism, rivalry) and states that these forms conduce to different ways of thinking and acting. Guided by this perspective, we examined in a multinational and multicultural study (61 countries; N = 15,039) how narcissism forms are linked to cognitions and behaviors prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic. As expected, differences in cognitions and behaviors across narcissism forms emerged. For example, higher narcissistic rivalry predicted lower likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors, but higher narcissistic sanctity predicted higher likelihood of enactment of COVID-19 prevention behaviors. Further, whereas the heroism, admiration, and rivalry narcissism forms acted in a typically antisocial manner, with high narcissism predicting greater endorsement of unfounded health beliefs, the sanctity form acted in a prosocial manner, with higher narcissism being linked to lower endorsement of unfounded COVID-19 health beliefs. Thus, the findings (a) support the idea of four narcissism forms acting differently, and (b) show that these differences reflect a double-edged sword, sometimes linking to an anti-social orientation, and sometimes linking to a pro-social orientation.

The existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has provided changes to daily activities to suppress the spread, one of which is reducing contact with other people throughout the year. This situation causes students to be more prone to experiencing loneliness amid academic demands that also need adjustment. Academic stress has several impacts, including difficulty concentrating, decreased achievement index, anxiety, irritability, and poor sleep quality. Moderation of self-compassion plays a vital role in looking at the effect of loneliness on academic stress. This research was conducted to find how loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic affects academic stress and how self-compassion can moderate it. This study uses a quantitative method with a convenience sampling technique. The respondents were active college students in Indonesia aged 18-25 (M = 19.72; SD = 1.23). Data was collected using the online "Google Form". Hypothesis testing was carried out using multiple regression testing and moderation analysis. The results showed that loneliness positively affected academic stress (20%) and self-compassion negatively affected academic stress (16%). Then, self-compassion as a moderator has a significant value on the interaction of loneliness (β = .36, 95% CI [.17, .55], p = .00) and self-compassion (β = -.30, 95% CI [-.53, -.07], p = .01). This finding occurs due to emotional coping strategies focused on self-compassion when experiencing academic stress.