This study used a longitudinal design to examine both concurrent and prospective relations between narcissism and several indicators of well-being in a non-clinical population. Consistent with previous research, the concurrent analyses showed that (1) narcissism was related to greater well-being with self-esteem fully mediating the association, and (2) narcissism was related to greater self-esteem contingency on negative interpersonal events. The prospective analyses showed that greater well-being predicted an increase in narcissism; however, higher narcissism did not predict changes in well-being. Lower affective reactivity to negative interpersonal events also predicted an increase in narcissism. The ''would-be'' narcissist appears to be a person reporting feeling well and not overly concerned by an aversive social environment. However, narcissism does not appear to predict future benefits for one's well-being.

A longitudinal investigation showed that self-enhancement by social comparison (assessing whether people perceive themselves more positively than they perceive others) was prospectively related to an increase in self-reported adjustment, controlling for the effects of narcissism. Better adjustment, including higher self-esteem, was not prospectively related to an increase in self-enhancement. The investigation also included a diary period, allowing the assessment of intrasubject covariation between daily reports of self-esteem and daily reports of perceived challenge and daily events (positive or negative). High (compared to low) self-enhancers were less likely to report lower self-esteem under higher challenge and less likely to report higher self-esteem under positive events.

Objective Given their prevalence and persuasive power in our culture, gender norms— commonly described as socially reinforced, learned expectations of what it means to be a man or a woman—likely contribute to sex differences in service utilization for depression. This study investigated whether sex differences in toughness, a gender-linked norm characterized by a desire to hide pain and maintain independence, were associated with a preference to wait for depression to resolve on its own without active professional treatment (``wait-and-see” approach). Methods Participants (N=1,051) in the California Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) survey were contacted in a follow-on survey to assess toughness, the kind of treatment they would prefer were they to receive a diagnosis of depression, and current symptoms of depression. Participants who reported ever having been diagnosed as having a depressive disorder on the BRFSS were oversampled threefold. Analyses were conducted using linear and logistic regressions. Results Men and women who scored higher on toughness had a greater preference for the wait-and-see approach (OR=1.14, p<.01). Women were less likely to prefer the wait-and-see approach (OR=.58, p<.04) and scored lower on toughness (B=−.70, p<.01). Men’s greater levels of toughness partially mediated the sex difference in treatment preferences (OR=.91, p<.05). Conclusions Men’s greater adherence to the toughness norm explained part of the sex difference observed in treatment-seeking preferences, but toughness undermined women’s treatment seeking as well. Findings could be used to inform novel public health communications intended to attract both men and women to psychiatric services.

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