Narcissism and object relations

Questionnaire measures of the narcissistic personality disorder can predict healthy and unhealthy self-functioning. That this outcome might support Heinz Kohut's psychoanalytic psychology of the self was tested in a sample of 354 undergraduates. In canonical correlations, factors from the Narcissistic Personality Inventory were associated more strongly with grandiose than with idealizing immaturities in Kohut's bipolar self, while difficulties in interpersonal relationships (i.e., poor object relations) were associated more strongly with idealizing deficits. Zero-order and partial correlational data were congruent with Kohut's hypothesis that self-grandiosity can include elements of both “pathology” and relative mental health, but canonical correlations did not support Kohut's claim that narcissism can be described in a bidimensional self-structure.