An evaluation of narcissism and authenticity on relationship quality

In a cross-sectional study (N = 279, 82% female), participants provided answers across measures of narcissism, authenticity, and relationship quality for themselves (self-perspective) and a romantic partner (other-perspective). Narcissism did not appear to be significantly correlated with measures of authenticity or relationship quality in the self-perspective model. However, narcissism was negatively related to measures of relationship quality in the other-perspective model. Mediational analyses revealed that both relationship and trait authenticity mediated this relationship, with relationship authenticity acting as the stronger mediator. Furthermore, the relation between relationship authenticity and narcissism was determined to be more negative, and significantly different from the relation between trait authenticity and narcissism. These findings suggest a differential relation between narcissism and authenticity dependent upon the authenticity construct under review. Consistent with expectations, perceiving a romantic partner as narcissistic has stronger negative implications for relationship quality than self-rated narcissism.