Škála měřící intenzitu neklinického narcismu: konstrukce a zjištění

Abstract

The article informs readers about the construction of a test of narcissism and associated phenomena. The author developed a scale based on a definition from the American Psychiatric Association (DSM IV-TR) and it is intended for use in standardised sociological surveys of non-clinical populations. The author tested it in two surveys: a pilot survey (N=141, snowball sampling) and in a representative survey of the Czech Republic (N=1081, quota sampling). The resulting parameters (17 items, the common factor exhausts 47% of the variance, Cronbach’s a=0,926) indicate that the test is more reliable than other instruments used to date (NPI, NPI-16) and owing to its smaller scope is also easy to use in questionnaire surveys. Intensive questioning confirmed the scale’s validity and produced results that correspond with the findings of psychologists focusing on this issue. The author inductively arrived at an auxiliary typology of narcissism. In the text he distinguishes between voluntary and involuntary narcissists, the characteristics of which are described in literature published to date. The findings presented in the article support the view of cognitive psychologists (e.g. J. Beck) who interpret narcissism as a ‘defective cognitive scheme’. However, given the scope of the phenomenon measured in the Czech Republic (narcissistic features can be observed approximately from the eighth decile), narcissism cannot still be viewed as just a marginal and pathological phenomenon. On the contrary, it is necessary to approach it as a phenomenon that has a strong social aspect and also plays a significant role in how modern society functions. In the Czech population narcissistic features are most often observed among the young generation (aged 18–29), childless, singles and people living in communities with more than 5000 inhabitants. As well as identifying narcissism as a socio-cultural phenomenon the article also demonstrates the relationship between the observed phenomenon and homosexuality.