The Narcissism of Personal Uniqueness: A New Measure of the Vulnerability Phenotype Paul C. Stey, Daniel K. Lapsley, & Ashleigh A. Renteria Available at: Background From its earliest formulations narcissism was a developmental construct; however, developmental studies of narcissism have not kept pace with research in clinical, social, and personality psychology. Perhaps this is due to the lack of suitable assessment tools that tap normal manifestations of narcissism; or at least indices of narcissism other than overt grandiosity. The Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) is the default option for assessing grandiose narcissism; and is derived from DSM diagnostic criteria of narcissistic personality disorder. But there is an emerging consensus that the narcissism phenotype includes both grandiosity and vulnerability, although DSM criteria have narrowed to focus exclusively on “overt” grandiosity (XXXX). Narcissistic vulnerability has been called the “covert” form of narcissism, and is associated with hypersensitivity, along with “a proneness to embarrassment and shame, acute self-consciousness and shyness, and painful questions about self-esteem and self-worth” (Bleiberg, 1994, p. 31). Moreover, recent theory (Lapsley & Stey, in press) suggests that narcissistic vulnerability may be particularly crucial for understanding adolescents, particularly when manifested as a pronounced sense of personal uniqueness (“Mom, you don’t know how it feels!”) Purpose (i.) Explore a promising new measure of the vulnerability narcissism phenotype. The Personal Uniqueness Scale (PUS) assesses the conviction that one’s subjective experience cannot be understood by others or meaningfully shared. (ii.) Examine the structural and psychometric properties of the PUS. We determine its convergent and discriminant validity, and attempt to document a construct-valid pattern of associations with indices of mental health and adaptation. (iii.) Finally, we explore whether self-esteem mediates the relationship between uniqueness and adaptation. Previous research has shown that this mediational relationship obtains only for overt grandiosity but not for vulnerability narcissism. Results and Conclusions The Personal Uniqueness Scale (PUS) was positively correlated with another measure of dysfunctional individuation. The PUS was positively correlated with measures of adjustment problems, and negatively correlated with measures of positive adjustment. Principal component analysis of the PUS revealed a two- factor structure. The second factor was subsequently dropped due to the small number of items and its weak reliability. These findings provide evidence for the convergent and discriminant validity of the 17-item Personal Uniqueness Scale. Society for Research in Child Development Montreal, March 2011 Method Participants: 241 undergraduates (137 females (M age = 20.3) Instruments and Reliabilities: Grandiose Narcissism: Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI; XXXX) α = Entitlement Scale (XXXX) α = Vulnerable Narcissism: Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (XXXX) α = Personal Uniqueness Scale α = Figure 1. Personal Uniqueness Scale Figure 2. Test of Self-Esteem as a Mediator of “Grandiosity” and “Vulnerability” Narcissism.