Untangling the Many Facets of Narcissism: A Network Approach to Agentic, Antagonistic, Communal, and Neurotic Facets Across Gender

A wide range of trait characteristics describe narcissism, but there is active debate about which features are most central to this construct. To explore the narcissism spectrum, the current study used a community sample of adults (N = 555) and applied psychometric network analysis to investigate the core elements of narcissistic manifestations. By doing so, we administered three distinct narcissism questionnaires comprising four facets of narcissism (i.e., agentic, antagonistic, neurotic, and communal facets). Given that narcissistic trait expressions can vary systematically for men and women, we additionally examined potential gender differences in network structure. Results revealed that agentic, antagonistic, communal, and neurotic narcissism each play a central role in defining narcissism, with distinct connectivity patterns observed across the facets. Network-comparison testing revealed male-female network invariance, but males and females showed no substantial differences in narcissistic configurations.