A recent study published in the journal Sex Roles sheds light on a lesser-known aspect of bullying behavior among women. The research reveals that expressions of vulnerable narcissism, rather than grandiose narcissism, play a significant role in predicting verbal, physical, and indirect bullying.
Narcissism, a personality trait marked by grandiosity, entitlement, and a lack of empathy, is often divided into two types: grandiose and vulnerable. Grandiose narcissism is characterized by extraversion, dominance, and a need for admiration. In contrast, vulnerable narcissism involves introversion, hypersensitivity, and psychological distress.
Previous studies have predominantly focused on grandiose narcissism, which is more common in men. However, less is known about how these traits manifest in women, especially in the context of bullying. The new study aimed to fill this gap by examining the relationship between narcissism and bullying among adult women.
“We were interested in this topic because narcissism is a modern epidemic, yet little is known about narcissism in women. There is also limited research on adult bullying in friendships and the role narcissism plays in this,” said study author Ava Green, a lecturer in forensic psychology at City University of London.
“Part of this relates to the need to use gender-inclusive assessments of narcissism that move beyond traditional male- centric frameworks. Our research addresses this gap and identifies risk markers of bullying perpetration in narcissistic women; findings which can be used to inform future anti-bullying prevention programmes.”
“Narcissism is a complex personality trait. We all exhibit narcissistic features to varying degrees, which can be expressed in both grandiose and vulnerable forms,” Green explained. “Individuals who exhibit more grandiose features are self-assured and socially dominant whereas individuals who exhibit more vulnerable features are introverted and have lower self- esteem. Both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism share an antagonistic core, demonstrated by high levels of entitlement and willingness to exploit others.”
“Gender socialization practices further shape the expression of grandiose features which overlap with masculinity (assertiveness, authoritarian character style, overt superiority) and vulnerable features which overlap with femininity (hypersensitivity, neuroticism, inhibition). As expected, in our study we found women scored significantly higher on vulnerable narcissism than grandiose narcissism.”
For their study, the researchers recruited 314 women aged 18 to 76 from social media platforms and the participant pool at City University of London. These participants were asked to complete an online survey that included demographic questions, the Pathological Narcissism Inventory (PNI), and a bullying questionnaire.
The bullying questionnaire assessed three types of bullying behaviors: physical, verbal, and indirect (e.g., spreading rumors). Participants indicated how often they had engaged in these behaviors in their friendships on a six-point scale.
The study found that women with higher levels of vulnerable narcissism were more likely to engage in physical and verbal bullying. In contrast, grandiose narcissism was positively related to bullying but did not uniquely predict bullying behavior when both types of narcissism were considered together.
For example, 10% of the variance in physical bullying was explained by vulnerable narcissism, while grandiose narcissism accounted for less than 1%. Similar patterns were observed for verbal bullying, where vulnerable narcissism uniquely accounted for 3.2% of the variance.
“Bullying in women has often been associated with indirect, relational aggression (social ostracism of peers, manipulation, spreading vicious rumours). When taking into consideration vulnerable narcissistic features, women enact overt and physical forms of bullying too,” Green told PsyPost.
“At first glance, it may be conceivable to interpret the overt forms of bullying as indicative of women exhibiting traits (overt superiority, entitlement, and assertiveness) that do not conform with their expected gender norms. However, although narcissistic women appear to aggress in similar ways as narcissistic men, women’s vulnerable presentation of narcissism may be a more effective disguise to express violence in both indirect and direct ways to acquire and preserve power in friendships, whilst minimizing risks regarding violations of normative expressions. These gendered risk markers may reflect developmental and socialized differences whereby narcissistic women use more tactful and subtle means in their strive for power and status.”
Interestingly, a facet of vulnerable narcissism known as “devaluing” was a significant predictor of both verbal and indirect bullying. This facet reflects a dependency on others for admiration and anger when these expectations are not met.
“Female narcissism is an under-researched area, but our findings suggest it should not be overlooked,” Green explained. “We found that women exhibiting higher levels of vulnerable narcissistic traits, but not grandiose traits, were significantly more likely to report enacting physical bullying (‘I forcefully pushed someone’) and verbal forms of bullying (‘I threatened to harm another person’) towards their peers.”
“More specifically, greater endorsement of traits reflective of devaluing others (‘I sometimes feel ashamed about my expectations of others when they disappoint me’) were positively associated with verbal and indirect bullying (‘I have spread negative rumours about someone that may or may not have been true’).”
As with all research, however, there are some caveats to consider. The study relied on self-reported data, which can be biased by social desirability. Because of this, bullying might have been underreported. Including measures to control for this social desirability biases in future research would strengthen the findings. The study also did not collect data on the gender of the bullying targets, which might have affected participants’ responses. Future research should explore if indirect or direct bullying varies based on the target’s gender.
Nevertheless, the findings of this study have significant implications for understanding and addressing bullying among women. In future research, Green hopes “to identify risk markers that can inform future interventions,” ultimately helping to reduce bullying behaviors among narcissistic women.
The study, “Mean Girls in Disguise? Associations Between Vulnerable Narcissism and Perpetration of Bullying Among Women,” was authored by Ava Green and Claire M. Hart.