Empirical measure of narcissism: a synthesis of research on its relationship with personality theory and traits

In spite of empirical research on narcissism, especially since its inclusion as disorder in the DSM-III, scant attention has been devoted to summarizing the growing bulk of research. The purpose of this paper was to analyze the current literature on the development of instruments to measure narcissism and the findings on the relationship between narcissism, and traits and theories of personality. This paper reviews those topics on which most research has been conducted: the developing of instruments to measure narcissism; narcissism and its relationship to personality traits and theories; grandiosity and narcissism; and healthy versus
pathological expression of narcissism. The paper suggests that the most influential theoretical contributions to development of instruments and research as well are those by Kohut, Kernberg, and Miller.