Overt and covert narcissism in Asian Americans, European Americans, and Asians.

Many contemporary theorists view people of Asian descent as less narcissistic than those of European descent. Empirical studies on narcissistic personality characteristics, in fact, attributed Asians' and Asian Americans' lower narcissism scores to their cultural upbringing. Two studies examined differential overt and covert narcissism expression in second generation Asian American, European American, and Asian undergraduate students. Study 1 showed that 100 second generation Asian Americans and 40 Asians, compared to 100 European Americans were more likely to express covert narcissism. There were no ethnocultural differences in overall overt narcissism expression but European Americans reported higher scores on the authoritativeness, superiority, and self-sufficiency overt narcissism subscales than Asian Americans. Modesty was negatively associated with overt narcissism but not associated with covert narcissism in European Americans and Asian Americans. European American and Asian American ethnic identities were positively correlated with overt narcissism while only Asian American ethnic identity was negatively correlated with covert narcissism. Neither modesty nor Asian ethnic identity was significantly associated with overt and covert narcissism in Asians. Study 2 replicated the findings by showing that 100 second generation Asian Americans, compared to 100 European Americans, reported more covert narcissism and equivalent overt narcissism. Asian Americans also reported more interdependent self construal and equivalent independent self construal as European Americans. Shame was positively correlated with covert narcissism for European Americans and Asian Americans but negatively correlated with overt narcissism for only Asian Americans. Both European Americans and Asian Americans with high scores on the covert narcissism scales reported lower subjective well-being. Results are discussed in terms of research, clinical and educational implications.PhDClinical psychologyPsychologyUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/124377/2/3138128.pd