From Narcissism to Violence: The Mediating Role of Conflict in Pakistani Married Romantic Partnerships

Abstract

Narcissistic personality traits typically involve patterns of entitlement, self-centeredness, and a need for admiration, which may contribute to maladaptive interpersonal outcomes. However, the pathways through which these traits lead to Inter-partner violence are under-researched, especially in the Global South. Therefore, the current study aims to address this gap using a cross-sectional research design. The data were collected from 251 married couples, aged between 25 and 40 years (M = 33.49, SD = 4.81). Participants were provided with well-established and psychometrically sound measures, including the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Romantic Partner Conflict Scale, and Inter-Partner Violence Scale. The mediation analysis using PROCESS macro version 4.20 with bootstraps (5,000 samples) revealed two different patterns. In the first model, both subscales of Romantic Partner Conflict Scales - Compromise and Interactional Reactivity fully mediated the relationship between narcissistic personality factor - Exhibitionism and Inter-Partner Violence (IPV). Whereas for the entitlement trait of narcissistic personality, the relationship with IPV was partially mediated, indicating that both Compromise and Interactional Reactivity produced significant indirect effects. Direct path from entitlement traits to IPV was significant, reflecting that entitlement independently contributes to violence risk beyond conflict behaviors. Furthermore, compromise may act as a socially acceptable form of adaptability, while interactional reactivity, even as a negative mediator, ultimately transmits the narcissistic tendencies-related risk into IPV in collectivistic marital contexts. Therefore, while addressing conflict dynamics in such cultures, marital counseling should not only focus on reducing IPV risk in individuals with narcissistic vulnerabilities but also address entitlement-driven beliefs that normalize dominance and control within intimate partner relationships.

Keywords

narcissistic personality exhibitionism entitlement romantic partner conflict compromise and interactional reactivity inter-partner violence and married men and women

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