Assessing the dimensions of narcissism and its prevalence among medical students

Abstract

Background: Narcissism is a personality disorder where a person feels more shy, arrogant, and sometimes hyperactive. That has a strong impact on relationships with friends, family, and colleagues. This trait is also present in normal people and a lot of features are still not known.

Objective: To determine the dimensions of narcissism and its prevalence among medical students of Central Park Medical College, Lahore.

Materials & Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on medical students at Central Park Medical College, Lahore, from November 2023 to March 2024. Through this study, the prevalence of two dimensions of narcissism among them was assessed. A total of 150 students from all five MBBS years participated in this study. A questionnaire based on the 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-40) was created and the responses of students were analyzed. Data were collected through Google Forms and analyzed by SPSS version 22 for descriptive and comparative statistics, with p≤0.05 indicating significance.

Results: No case of overt narcissism was found; however, 44(29.33%) students had borderline narcissism (NPI scores between 15-20, mean score 15.96 ± 3.46) which was entirely in junior MBBS years, was not significant across genders, and declined with senior MBBS years. A positive association was found between the GPA scores and NPI scores (r=0.597, p<0.001), as well as with Stress scores (r=0.763, p<0.001) implicating them as possibly helpful in academic achievements. Stress scores and NPI scores were also positively associated (r=0.676, p<0.001).

Conclusion: Narcissistic traits, though not common among medical students, may also promote the role of stress, and help them in their academic performance particularly in the early medical years when the challenges of medical education are higher.