Narcissism, Facebook Use and Self Disclosure

• Main Author: Huling, Bonnie Anne Boyd
• Format: Others
• Published: BYU ScholarsArchive 2011
• Subjects: narcissism; Facebook use; self-disclosure; vulnerable narcissism; grandiose narcissism; deficient self-regulation; religiosity and mental health; narcissistic personality inventory; computer-mediated communication; social media; generation next; Communication
• Online Access: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/2475; https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3474&context=etd

This study examines the relationship between online self-disclosure, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, Facebook use and frequency of status updates in existing self-report measures among 381 college students. Positive correlations were found between: vulnerable narcissism and Facebook status updates, and Facebook use and online self-disclosure. Following the equalization of the two different narcissism scales, college students scored higher on grandiose narcissism as opposed to vulnerable narcissism, the opposite to what was hypothesized. No correlations were found between: grandiose narcissism and Facebook status updates; grandiose narcissism and self-disclosure; and vulnerable narcissism and self-disclosure. Additionally, college women did not score higher in self-disclosure than men on Facebook. Through additional testing a correlation between vulnerable narcissism and Facebook use was also found. Results were negatively affected by the established grandiose narcissism scale failing reliability testing, thus, in the future, the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) should be used. High religiosity is also known to positively correlate to positive mental health, therefore, in the future using less religiously orientated college students might yield different narcissism level results.