Narcissists’ affective well-being: Associations of grandiose narcissism with state affect level and variability

Whereas grandiose narcissism has generally been found to be related to adaptive affective experiences (i.e., positive affective states), many theoretical conceptualizations have emphasized its associations with characteristics of low affective well-being (i.e., unstable, highly variable affective states). Empirical research on the association of grandiose narcissism with the mean level of and variability in affective states has been inconclusive, as studies have differed considerably in their conceptualizations and measurement of narcissism and affect dynamics and have suffered from methodological limitations. Here, we offer conceptual explanations for previously inconsistent findings, derive diverging hypotheses about different aspects of narcissism and affective well-being, and investigate these hypotheses in two daily diary and three experience-sampling data sets (overall N = 2,125; total measurements = 116,336). As hypothesized, we found diverging associations between agentic and antagonistic aspects of narcissism with affect levels: Whereas narcissistic admiration was related to more pleasant affective states, narcissistic rivalry was related to less pleasant ones. We also obtained some support for diverging effects of admiration and rivalry on affect variability. However, these associations were largely reduced when we corrected for (squared) mean levels of affective valence and arousal. In combination, these findings suggest that only the agentic aspect of grandiose narcissism is conducive to affective well-being, whereas its antagonistic aspect negatively influences affective well-being. Moreover, the assumed associations of grandiose narcissism with volatile affectivity seem to rely heavily on mean-level effects and primarily manifest in experiences of more diverse affective states rather than stronger or more frequent affective fluctuations in general.