Sexual Fantasies and Sexual Behaviors in the Perspective of Grandiose, Vulnerable, and Malignant Narcissism: A Community Study

Background: Although at a theoretical level, narcissism has been always connected with sexuality, empirical research on the associations between different manifestations of narcissism and sexuality is still sparse. Starting from these premises, the present study aimed at assessing the associations between different manifestations of narcissism (i.e., grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and malignant narcissism), and sexual fantasies and behaviors in a sample of adult community-dwelling adults. Methods: Participants (N = 583; 63% female; mean age = 30.88 years, SD = 11.23) were administered the Five Factor Narcissism Inventory Super Short Form (FFNI-SSF) to assess grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, the Personality Inventory for DSM-5 Short Form malignant narcissism index (MNARC) to evaluate malignant narcissism, and the Sexual Fantasies and Behaviors Inventory (SFBI) to measure sexual fantasies and behaviors. Relative importance weight (RIW) analysis was used to evaluate the multivariate associations between narcissistic phenomena and different sexual fantasies and behaviors. Results: Our RIW results supported the hypothesis that narcissistic dimensions are likely to show significant, albeit small-to-moderate or moderate associations with self-reports of non-normophilic, aggression-laden (e.g., sadism, masochism, and intrusion) sexual fantasies and behaviors. Interestingly, in our study different manifestations of narcissism showed differential relationships with selected sexual fantasies and behaviors, at least as they were operationalized in the SFBI self-reports. Conclusions: Our findings may improve extant knowledge on sexual fantasies and sexual behaviors and their associations with grandiose, vulnerable, and malignant narcissism, paving the way for additional research on the role of antagonistic personality dimensions as possible roots for non-normophilic sexual fantasies and behaviors across different contexts.