title: Are youths' feelings of entitlement always "bad"?: Evidence for a distinction between exploitive and non-exploitive dimensions of entitlement.
abstract: Previous personality research (e.g., Campbell et al., 2004) has described the sense of entitlement as an unifactorial construct. In this study, we examined characteristics of two potential facets of entitlement: exploitive entitlement, characterized by exploitive interactions and expectations of special treatment, and non-exploitive entitlement, or entitled beliefs that rest on notions of self-worth and fairness. 466 college students (mean age = 20.5) completed a questionnaire consisting of unifactorial and two-factor measures of entitlement and other personality dispositions and attitudes. As expected, both exploitive and non-exploitive entitlement were positively related to the Psychological Entitlement Scale (PES; r = .51 and r = .43, respectively), an unifactorial measure of entitlement. In other respects, exploitive and non-exploitive entitlement had quite distinct correlates. Exploitive entitlement was uniquely related to higher levels of psychopathy and neuroticism, and lower levels of work orientation, social commitment, and self-esteem; whereas non-exploitive entitlement was uniquely associated with higher self-esteem.
authors.affiliation: University of California - Irvine, 4201 Social and Behavioral Sciences Bldg., Irvine, California, CA 92617, USA. jlessard@uci.edu
authors.forename: Jared
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lessard
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Greenberger
authors.forename: Chuansheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Susan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Farruggia
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004644:Emotions; D005163:Factor Analysis, Statistical; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality; D012649:Self Concept; D019455:Self Psychology; D012919:Social Behavior; D013334:Students; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014495:Universities; D055815:Young Adult