The Narcissistic Personality Inventory: Applicability in a Swedish population sample

A Swedish translation of the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) was mailed to 410 participants, aged 21-61 years, randomly sampled from the Swedish general population. The participation rate was 62%. The applicability of a previously published seven-factor structure (Raskin & Terry) and a four-factor structure (Emmons) was investigated. The factor structure found in the present in the Swedish sample corresponded better with Emmons's version. Therefore the four-factor structure was chosen. Because the correspondence to Emmons's factor structure was not perfect, a revised NPI for Swedish use was constructed. The total scale score is usually used, although the Swedish NPI includes four subscales: Leadership/Power, Exhibitionism/Self-admiration. Superiority/Arrogance, and Uniqueness/Entitlement. For the total scale, the internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha) was 0.80 and the test-retest correlation was 0.93. The total scale score correlated with self-esteem as well as the interpersonal style and emotional aspects of psychopathy, supporting the validity of the scale.