Examining the Validity and Utility of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory

The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; Raskin & Hall, 1979; 1981) is clearly the most commonly used self-report narcissism measure. Nevertheless, the inventory has several drawbacks that complicate score interpretation, including the existence of multiple versions, an unstable factor structure, and a psychometrically problematic format. The current study aimed to clarify the NPI's strengths and weaknesses by comparing the original forced-choice format to a new Likert-scale version. A sample of 337 undergraduate students completed a battery of 18 narcissism and other personality scales. The NPI Likert-scale version was factor analyzed and correlated with these measures to determine the degree of structural similarity to that of the original format and to clarify the meaning of low-end NPI scores. The two formats were found to yield very similar but not identical results, and low-end NPI scores represented modesty, low self-confidence, and an appreciation of others. Implications and future directions are discussed.