Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences

Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences

Comparison of object relationships and perfectionism of medical students with maladaptive narcissism, adaptive narcissism and normal

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
soheyla arjmand 1
hassan Mirzahoseini 2
Majiod Zargham Hajebi 3
1 Department of Psychology, Qom Branch. Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
2 Asistant Profrssor.Department of Psychology, Qom Branch. Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran.
3 Associated Professor of Psychology, Department of Psychology, Qom Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qom, Iran
10.22038/mjms.2021.54768.3189
Abstract
Introduction: The aim of this study was to compare the object relationships and perfectionism of incompatible, adaptive and normal narcissists.
Methods: The research method was causal-comparative. From the population of Islamic Azad University students, 210 people were selected by available sampling method and based on the evaluation of two questionnaires of pathological narcissism (PNI) and narcissistic personality scale (NPI) in three groups of 70 people consistent narcissism, maladaptive narcissism and no narcissism they got. To measure the desired variables, the Questionnaires of Subject Relationship Scale (BORI) and Positive and Negative Perfectionism Scale (PANPS) were used and finally the data were analyzed by analysis of variance and Tukey post hoc test.
Findings: The results showed that among the variables of object relationships, insecure attachment and alienation in the incompatible narcissistic group was significantly higher than the other two groups (p = 0.0001), but between the two groups of compatible narcissism and the group without narcissism in these two variables. No significant difference was observed (p≤05). Positive perfectionism was higher in the adaptive narcissistic group than in the non-narcissistic group. Positive perfectionism was higher in both adaptive and non-narcissistic groups than in the incompatible narcissistic group (p = 0.0001).
Conclusion: Incompatible narcissism can negatively affect the object relationships and perfectionism of medical students. Considering the mental health of students, their academic and work performance can be positively affected.
Keywords
object relations
perfectionism
incompatible narcissism
adaptive narcissism
  1. Halgin RP, Whitbourne SK. Abnormal psychology. McGraw-Hill Higher Education; 2006.
  2. Young SM, Pinsky D. Narcissism and celebrity. Journal of Research in Personality. 2006 Oct 1;40(5):463-71.
  3. Malisiewicz T, Efros A. Beyond categories: The visual memex model for reasoning about object relationships. Advances in neural information processing systems, 2009; 22: 1222-1230.
  4. Shah AA, Bhatti MM, Ansari AA, Hussain B, Tara G. Television as a Moderator Between Narcissism and Self-Promoting Behavior on Facebook. Peshawar Journal of Psychology and Behavioral Sciences (PJPBS). 2016;2(2):177-87.
  5. Casale S, Fioravanti G, Baldi V, Flett GL, Hewitt PL. Narcissism, perfectionistic self-presentation, and relationship satisfaction from a dyadic perspective: narcissism and relationship satisfaction. Self and Identity. 2020 Nov 16;19(8):948-66.
  6. Ghorbani N. Communication styles and skills. Tehran: Teylor Publishing. 2005.
  7. Busch AJ. Integrating Normal and Pathological Measures of Narcissism (Doctoral dissertation). 2017.
  8. Holmes J . Narcissism. (Translated by Mahyar Alinqoli). Tehran: New Insight. 2020.
  9. Cooper AM. The quiet revolution in American psychoanalysis: Selected papers of Arnold M. Cooper. Psychology Press; 2005.
  10. Roche MJ, Pincus AL, Conroy DE, Hyde AL, Ram N. Pathological narcissism and interpersonal behavior in daily life. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. 2013 Oct;4(4):315.
  11. Tarshayi M, Rasoulzadeh K, Besharat M A, Asgari A. Investigating the validity and factor structure of the Persian version of the list of pathological narcissism. Educational Measurement, 2017; 6 (22): 134-115.
  12. Miller JD, Lynam DR, Hyatt CS, Campbell WK. Controversies in narcissism. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology. 2017 May 8;13:291-315.
  13. Fossati A, Feeney J, Pincus A, Borroni S, Maffei C. The structure of pathological narcissism and its relationships with adult attachment styles: A study of Italian nonclinical and clinical adult participants. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2015 Jul;32(3):403.
  14. Cai H, Luo YL. Distinguishing between adaptive and maladaptive narcissism. InHandbook of trait narcissism 2018 (pp. 97-104). Springer, Cham.
  15. Wright AG, Stepp SD, Scott LN, Hallquist MN, Beeney JE, Lazarus SA, Pilkonis PA. The effect of pathological narcissism on interpersonal and affective processes in social interactions. Journal of abnormal psychology. 2017 Oct;126(7):898.
  16. Kealy D, Ogrodniczuk JS. Narcissistic interpersonal problems in clinical practice. Harvard review of psychiatry. 2011 Nov 22;19(6):290-301.
  17. Malesza M, Kaczmarek MC. Grandiose narcissism versus vulnerable narcissism and impulsivity. Personality and Individual Differences. 2018 May 1;126:61-5.
  18. Dashineau SC, Edershile EA, Simms LJ, Wright AG. Pathological narcissism and psychosocial functioning. Personality Disorders: Theory, Research, and Treatment. 2019 Sep;10(5):473.
  19. Day NJ, Bourke ME, Townsend ML, Grenyer BF. Pathological narcissism: A study of burden on partners and family. Journal of personality disorders. 2020 Dec;34(6):799-813.
  20. Erkoreka L, Navarro B. Vulnerable narcissism is associated with severity of depressive symptoms in dysthymic patients. Psychiatry research. 2017 Nov 1;257:265-9.
  21. Sandage SJ, Jankowski PJ, Bissonette CD, Paine DR. Vulnerable narcissism, forgiveness, humility, and depression: Mediator effects for differentiation of self. Psychoanalytic Psychology. 2017 Jul;34(3):300.
  22. Besser A, Zeigler-Hill V, Pincus AL, Neria Y. Pathological narcissism and acute anxiety symptoms after trauma: A study of Israeli civilians exposed to war. Psychiatry. 2013 Dec 1;76(4):381-97.
  23. Rose P. The happy and unhappy faces of narcissism. Personality and individual differences. 2002 Aug 1;33(3):379-91.
  24. Besharat MA. xplaining personality disorders based on attachment theory. Bi-Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Psychology, 2007; 1 (3): 48-41.
  25. Saint Keller M. An Introduction to Your Thematic Relationships and Psychology. (Translated by Alireza Tahmasb and Hamed Ali Aghaei). Tehran: Ney Publishing. 2008.
  26. Jones KA. Reconsidering psychoanalytic notions of paternal and maternal roles in situations of father-absence. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy. 2008 Dec;38(4):205-13.
  27. Di Pierro R, Di Sarno M, Gargiulo I, Madeddu F. Traits of pathological narcissism and dysfunctional eating in women: The role of perfectionistic discrepancy. Current Psychology. 2020 Sep 11:1-8.
  28. Flett GL, Blankstein KR, Hewitt PL. Perfectionism, performance, and state positive affect and negative affect after a classroom test. Canadian Journal of School Psychology. 2009 Mar;24(1):4-18.
  29. Terry-Short LA, Owens RG, Slade PD, Dewey ME. Positive and negative perfectionism. Personality and individual differences. 1995 May 1;18(5):663-8.
  30. Egan S, Wade T, Shafran R. The transdiagnostic process of perfectionism. Revista de psicopatología y psicología clínica. 2012;17(3):279-94.
  31. Jakšić N, Milas G, Ivezić E, Wertag A, Jokić-Begić N, Pincus AL. The Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI) in transitional post-war Croatia: Psychometric and cultural considerations. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. 2014 Dec 1;36(4):640-52.
  32. You J, Leung F, Lai KK, Fu K. Factor structure and psychometric properties of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory among Chinese university students. Journal of Personality Assessment. 2013 May 1;95(3):309-18.
  33. Mesgarian F, Azadfallah P, Farahani H,  Ghorbani N. Psychometric properties of the Persian version of the Bell Thematic Relationship Scale. Clinical Psychology and Personality (Behavior Scholar), 2018; 2 (29): 204-193.
  34. Torshabi M. Develop a model to explain the dimensions of pathological narcissism based on parenting styles, attachment styles, and early maladaptive psychoses. PhD Thesis, Tarbiat Modares University, Faculty of Humanities. 2017.
  35. Borroni S, Bortolla R, Lombardi LM, Somma A, Maffei C, Fossati A. The Italian version of Perfectionistic Self‐Presentation Scale: psychometric proprieties and its associations with pathological narcissism and adult attachment in an adult non clinical sample. Personality and mental health. 2016 May;10(2):130-41.
  36. Hoseinlou Z, Azadyekta M, Nasrollahi B. Relationship between attachment styles and early maladaptive schemas with the occurrence of narcissistic personality traits in medical students of Tehran universities. Psychological Studies, 2020; 15 (3): 157-141.
  37. Gholozadeh T. The relationship between fatherlessness and thematic relationships and self-centered personality disorder. Master Thesis, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Shahid Beheshti University. 2010.
  38. Summers F. Object relations theories and psychopathology: A comprehensive text. Routledge; 2014 Mar 18.
  39. Diamond D, Meehan KB. Attachment and object relations in patients with narcissistic personality disorder: Implications for therapeutic process and outcome. Journal of clinical psychology. 2013 Nov;69(11):1148-59.
  40. HasanZadeh F, Asgharnejad A. The mediating role of perfectionism in the relationship between narcissism and social avoidance. Journal of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, 2019; 26 (1): 112-102.
  41. Smith MM, Sherry SB, Chen S, Saklofske DH, Flett GL, Hewitt PL. Perfectionism and narcissism: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Research in Personality. 2016 Oct 1;64:90-101.
  42. Stoeber J, Sherry SB, Nealis LJ. Multidimensional perfectionism and narcissism: Grandiose or vulnerable?. Personality and Individual Differences. 2015 Jul 1;80:85-90.
  43. Nealis LJ, Sherry SB, Lee-Baggley DL, Stewart SH, Macneil MA. Revitalizing narcissistic perfectionism: Evidence of the reliability and the validity of an emerging construct. Journal of Psychopathology and Behavioral Assessment. 2016 Sep;38(3):493-504.
  44. Gholamipour F. Predicting morbid and healthy narcissism based on demographic factors, family system and ecological factors: The mediating role of narcissistic wounds and perfectionism. Master Thesis in Clinical Psychology, Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, Semnan University. 2020.
  45. Hewitt PL, Flett GL, Sherry SB, Habke M, Parkin M, Lam RW, McMurtry B, Ediger E, Fairlie P, Stein MB. The interpersonal expression of perfection: Perfectionistic self-presentation and psychological distress. Journal of personality and social psychology. 2003 Jun;84(6):1303.
Medical Journal of Mashhad university of Medical Sciences
Volume 64, Issue 5
March and April 2022
Pages 3902-3913