The role of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism on mask wearing and vaccination during the COVID-19 pandemic

In a large nationally representative study in the United States, we explored the role of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism on adhering to protective measures against COVID-19. Controlling for one's politics, perception of risk, state policies, and important demographics, we find higher grandiose narcissism predicts less vaccination and less mask-wearing, but more telling other people to wear a mask, if one wears a mask. The individual facets of higher entitlement/exploitativeness predicted less mask-wearing and less vaccination while higher authority/leadership-seeking predicted telling others to wear a mask, but not getting vaccinated. Regarding vulnerable narcissism, higher self-centered/egocentrism predicted less mask-wearing or vaccination, while higher oversensitivity-to-judgement predicted more mask-wearing and vaccination. Our results are consistent with expectations that reflect narcissism's multidimensionality, and present a nuanced picture of narcissism's role in adhering to protective policies.

Automated summary

A large nationally representative study in the United States explored the impact of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism on adherence to COVID-19 protective measures. The study found that higher levels of grandiose narcissism were associated with less vaccination and mask-wearing, but a greater tendency to tell others to wear masks. Different facets of narcissism also had varying effects, with entitlement/exploitativeness predicting less mask-wearing and vaccination, and authority/leadership-seeking predicting more encouragement of mask-wearing. For vulnerable narcissism, higher levels of self-centeredness and oversensitivity to judgement were linked to different patterns of mask-wearing and vaccination.