The relationship between the need for admiration and perfectionism: differences between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism

The present thesis work is divided into 4 studies and is part of that line of research that underlines the need to distinguish the two empirical profiles of narcissists, grandiose (GN) and vulnerable (VN), especially with respect to the multidimensional perfectionism construct. The first study was designed to investigate the psychometric characteristics of the brief version of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-16; Ames et al., 2006) in the Italian context. Study 2 was conducted to include the investigation of "the need to seem effortlessly perfect" and "the self-perceived ability to seem perfect" when studying the association between narcissism and perfectionistic self-presentation. Study 3 was conducted to investigate the relationship between narcissism and authenticity and if the perfectionistic self-presentation mediated the association between NG, NV, and perceived authenticity. Finally, study 4 focused the attention on indices of psychological health and it aimed to investigate the possible mediating role of perfectionistic self-presentation strategies in the association between vulnerable narcissism and depression, social anxiety and shame.