Narcissism and Romantic Relationship Functioning: the Mediating Role of the Desire for Power

We investigated the potential role played by the desire for power in the connections between narcissistic personality traits and indicators of romantic relationship functioning. In Study 1, we discovered that antagonistic narcissism had indirect connections with indicators of romantic relationship functioning via the desire for power. In Study 2, we observed actor associations in romantic couples. More specifically, antagonistic narcissism exhibited indirect links with romantic relationship functioning through the desire for power for both men and women. Additionally, partner associations emerged from these analyses. For women and men, their antagonistic narcissism had an indirect association with the romantic relationship functioning of their partners through their own desire for power. Furthermore, the antagonistic narcissism of women was associated with the romantic relationship functioning of both themselves and their male partners, mediated by the desire for power as reported by their male partners. The associations that emerged for the other narcissistic personality traits were somewhat weak and inconsistent across these studies. In our discussion, we explore how the concept of the desire for power can offer insights into understanding the complex dynamics often observed in romantic relationships characterized by certain aspects of narcissism.