The jury is out: a recent study concluded men are generally more narcissistic than women.
The study looked at more than 475,000 participants and 31 years of data, which revealed that men consistently had higher narcissism scores, regardless of age, the University at Buffalo reported.
"Narcissism is associated with various interpersonal dysfunctions, including an inability to maintain healthy long-term relationships, unethical behavior and aggression," said lead author Emily Grijalva, PhD, assistant professor of organization and human resources in the UB School of Management. "At the same time, narcissism is shown to boost self-esteem, emotional stability and the tendency to emerge as a leader."
The study looked at gender differences across three aspects of narcissism: "leadership [and] authority, grandiose [and] exhibitionism and entitlement." The team observed the largest gap between men and women was seen in entitlement, which suggests men are more likely to exploit others and feel like they deserve certain privileges; the second largest disparity was seen in leadership and authority. Data on college students between the years of 1990 and 2013 did not find evidence that levels narcissism changed over time in either gender.
The researchers believe these differences are linked to gender stereotypes and expectations, as well as the lack of women in leadership positions.
"Individuals tend to observe and learn gender roles from a young age, and may face backlash for deviating from society's expectations," Grijalva said. "In particular, women often receive harsh criticism for being aggressive or authoritative, which creates pressure for women, more so than for men, to suppress displays of narcissistic behavior."
In the future the researchers hope to look deeper into the "social, cultural or biological" factors that contribute to these disparities.
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Psychological Bulletin.
