Pathological narcissism and everyday paranoia: A multilevel and network analysis of dynamic interpersonal processes.

Recent research suggests a link between pathological narcissism and paranoia, yet how paranoia manifests in narcissists' daily lives remains understudied. This study examined how stable and dynamic aspects of pathological narcissism influence daily paranoid experiences. At baseline, 181 participants (M age = 23.6 ± 4.41) reported grandiose and vulnerable trait narcissism. They then responded to 4 daily prompts for 7 days, reporting their most distressing interpersonal interaction, paranoid states, narcissistic grandiose and vulnerable states, and momentary perceptions of the other’s warmth/dominance. Multilevel Linear Models showed that both grandiose and vulnerable traits predicted increased daily paranoia. Perceiving the other as warm and dominant was linked to reduced paranoia, with this effect amplified in individuals higher in narcissistic traits. We also employed multilevel vector autoregressive modeling to examine different time-frame complementary network models of narcissistic states. The contemporaneous model indicated that state vulnerability and grandiosity were simultaneously related to higher paranoid states. Moreover, state vulnerability was associated with a perception of the other as less warm and less dominant, which, in turn, was positively related to paranoid states. According to the cross-lagged model, state vulnerability predicted higher state paranoia toward the other at the next prompt. The between-subject model showed that individuals experiencing higher grandiose and vulnerable states experienced, on average, more paranoia, but perceptions of others did not directly influence paranoia. Our findings emphasize the importance of considering the complex interplay between narcissistic traits, narcissistc states and paranoid states in daily interpersonal situations.