The Mediating Role of Emptiness and Materialism in the Association Between Pathological Narcissism and Compulsive Buying

Although theories of narcissism describe the experience of emptiness as a possible mechanism for addictive behaviors such as compulsive buying, this link hasn’t been examined empirically. This study investigated the relationships between narcissistic grandiosity and vulnerability, emptiness, materialism, and compulsive buying among adults. Participants included 204 Israeli adults (97 males; Mage = 45.86) who completed a battery of self-reported questionnaires. Our results show that narcissistic grandiosity, narcissistic vulnerability, materialism and emptiness were negatively related to compulsive buying. Furthermore, while emptiness mediated the relationships between narcissistic vulnerability and compulsive buying, materialism mediated the relationships between narcissistic grandiosity and compulsive buying. These findings highlight the differential associations between the two facets of pathological narcissism and compulsive buying, and lend empirical support to the importance of the emptiness experience for compensatory behaviors such as compulsive buying by the vulnerable narcissist.