title: Malignant self-regard: accounting for commonalities in vulnerably narcissistic, depressive, self-defeating, and masochistic personality disorders.
abstract: Several personality disorders (PDs) have been of interest in the clinical literature, yet failed to have been adequately represented in the diagnostic manuals. Some of these are masochistic, self-defeating, depressive, and narcissistic PDs. The theoretical and empirical relationships among these disorders are reviewed. It is proposed that a particular type of self-structure, malignant self-regard (MSR), may account for similarities among all of them and provide a better framework upon which to understand the nature of these personality types and their discrimination from related constructs. Subsequently, a questionnaire to assess MSR was created and evaluated for its psychometric properties. The measure was found to be reliable (Cronbach's alpha=.93) and valid, given its correlations with measures of self-defeating, depressive, and vulnerably narcissistic personalities (rs range from .66 to .76). MSR also can be meaningfully differentiated from a nomological network of related constructs, including neuroticism, extraversion, depression, and grandiose narcissism. The utility of assessing self-structures, such as MSR, in the diagnostic manuals is discussed.
authors: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI. Electronic address: shuprich@emich.edu.
authors: Steven K
authors: SK
authors: Huprich
authors: Eastern Michigan University, Ypsilanti, MI.
authors: Sharon M
authors: SM
authors: Nelson
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005120:Extraversion, Psychological; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008398:Masochism / Q000175:diagnosis*; D008875:Middle Aged; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009289:Narcissism; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011594:Psychometrics; D012649:Self Concept; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D055815:Young Adult