Early Maladaptive Schemas as Predictors of Narcissism: The Mediating Role of Self-Esteem

Narcissism and its components remain up-to-date in academic studies as a topic that has been and continues to be the focus of attention of researchers. The aim of this study is to examine the predictive effect of early maladaptive schemas on narcissism and the mediating role of self-esteem in this effect. A total of 426 university students, 229 female and 197 male, participated in the study. In addition to the demographic information form, the Narcissistic Admiration and Competition Scale, Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form-3 and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Inventory were used to collect data. In the analysis of the data, descriptive statistics, Pearson Product of Moments Correlation analysis, mediation analysis in line with the procedures recommended by Preacher and Hayes, and Bootstrapping method were used to evaluate the mediation effect. According to the results of the research; Schema domains of impaired autonomy, unrelenting standards, disconnection, other-directedness, and impaired limits predict self-esteem. Schema domains of impaired autonomy, unrelenting standards, disconnection, impaired limits as well as self-esteem, predict narcissism, while the schema domains of other-directedness do not predict narcissism. Self-esteem acts as a mediator in the relationship between impaired autonomy, unrelenting standards, disconnection and impaired limits schema areas and narcissism.