The Intricate Role of Dissociation in the Relations Between Childhood Maltreatment, Self-Objectification, and Narcissism

Objectives: Abusive acts often involve the use of victims as objects for venting the perpetrators' impulses and urges; they may therefore be conceptualized as objectifying experiences and may lead to self-objectification. This sense of self-objectification may lead to the development of narcissism-either grandiose narcissism or vulnerable narcissism, with the potential interruption of dissociation, which is often observed among survivors of childhood abuse in this dynamic. Accordingly, the current study examined a model in which the associations between childhood maltreatment and narcissism were mediated by self-objectification and moderated by dissociation. Method: A battery of self-report questionnaires including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire, Self-Objectification Scale, Brief-Pathological Narcissism Inventory, and Dissociative Experiences Scale were filled out by 766 college-university students. Results: Both grandiose and vulnerable narcissism were related to childhood maltreatment through the mediating role of self-objectification. Moreover, the analyses yielded significant interactions of self-objectification and dissociation in predicting both vulnerable narcissism and grandiose narcissism; that is, the associations between self-objectification and both types of narcissism were stronger among individuals with low levels of dissociation than among those with high levels of dissociation. Conclusions: These findings highlight the complex and ambiguous role of dissociation in the structure of the survivors' self and emphasize the importance of promoting their sense of subjectivity.