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Moth to a Flame University of Missouri, St. Louis IRL @ UMSL Dissertations UMSL Graduate Works 3-22-2021 Moth to a Flame: An Investigation of the Personality Traits and Early-Life Trauma Histories of Women Who Have Survived Adult Relationships with Men with Pathological Narcissism Michelle D. Roberts University of Missouri-St. Louis, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation Part of the Clinical Psychology Commons, Counseling Psychology Commons, Counselor Education Commons, Other Psychology Commons, Social Justice Commons, and the Social Work Commons Recommended Citation Roberts, Michelle D., "Moth to a Flame: An Investigation of the Personality Traits and Early-Life Trauma Histories of Women Who Have Survived Adult Relationships with Men with Pathological Narcissism" (2021). Dissertations. 1043. https://irl.umsl.edu/dissertation/1043 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the UMSL Graduate Works at IRL @ UMSL. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of IRL @ UMSL. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Moth to a Flame: An Investigation of the Personality Traits and Early-Life Trauma Histories of Women Who Have Survived Adult Relationships with Men with Pathological Narcissism Michelle D. Roberts, MEd, MSJ, LPC, NCC MEd, December, 2014, University of Missouri-St. Louis M.S. in Journalism, August, 1993, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill. B.A. in Journalism, December, 1992, Arizona State University, Tempe, Ariz. A Dissertation Submitted to The Graduate School at the University of Missouri-St. Louis in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Education with an emphasis in Counseling May 2021 Advisory Committee Susan Kashubeck-West, PhD Chairperson Mary Lee Nelson, Ph.D. Michael Griffin, Ph.D. Emily Brown, Ph.D. Copyright, Michelle D. Roberts, 2021 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TRAUMA HISTORIES 2 DISSERTATION ABSTRACT Although emotional and psychological abuse, in addition to physical assault, are now commonly accepted as aspects of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), narcissistic abuse as a subset of IPV is not widely recognized or understood. Due to the extremely debilitating, chronic mental health effects of narcissistic abuse (Bremner, 2008; Campbell, 2002; Yoon et al., 2009), this study sought to explore the experiences, personalities, early-life (childhood) trauma histories and mental health outcomes of heterosexual women who self-identify as having been in an adult romantic relationship with a man with pathological narcissism. Specifically, this study aimed to identify the nature and frequency of abuses experienced by women during the relationship, their specific mental health symptoms during and after the relationship, and the kinds of mental health diagnoses they received. A cross-sectional online survey was utilized to test the research questions. The sample consisted of 1,995 participants who identified as female survivors of narcissistic abuse between the ages of 18 and 80 with a mean age of 46. The direct relationships of previous early-life (childhood) trauma, as well as elevations or deficits in certain personality traits, were tested for correlational patterns and predictions of Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (C-PTSD). Key findings include: 1) women scored four times higher than normative statistics for the presence of early-life trauma; 2) almost three-fourths (73.3%) of participants met the clinical criteria needed to diagnose C-PTSD, yet only 4.2% indicated they had been diagnosed with the PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TRAUMA HISTORIES 3 disorder; 3) the presence of early-life trauma predicted greater intensity and severity of C-PTSD-related symptoms; 4) slightly more than half of participants reported above average empathy, with 12.6% scoring as super empathizers (the highest category); 5) elevated empathy predicted greater intensity and severity of C-PTSD-related symptoms, though the practical ++significance was low; 6) the presence of narcissistic abuse predicted greater intensity and severity of C-PTSD-related symptoms when controlling for early-life trauma; and 7) the presence of altruistic and self-directed personality traits predicted greater intensity and severity of C-PTSD-related symptoms when controlling for early-life trauma. These findings may help researchers and clinicians to better understand the impact of narcissistic abuse on survivors and positively impact prevention and intervention efforts by helping to identify both risk and protective factors. Directions for future research regarding personality traits, early- life trauma and the limitations of present research are discussed. PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TRAUMA HISTORIES 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS Chapter Page I. INTRODUCTION/LITERATURE REVIEW............................................................ 8 Who is He? ........................................................................................................ 11 Narcissistic Abuse in Relationships ..................................................................... 15 Damage is Difficult to See and Understand ......................................................... 20 Who is She? ......................................................................................................... 26 Personality Trait Theory .................................................................................... 26 Empathy Theory................................................................................................. 31 Early-Life Trauma Theory................................................................................. 32 Victim as Target Theory.................................................................................... 35 Codependency and Love Addiction Theory...................................................... 36 Research Questions ........................................................................................... 39 Hypotheses .......................................................................................................... 40 II. METHODS …………….......................................................................................... 40 Participants ....................................................................................................... 42 Measures ........................................................................................................... 42 Demographic survey ......................................................................................... 42 Empathy Levels.................................................................................................. 42 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TRAUMA HISTORIES 5 Personality Traits….......................................................................................... 43 Experiences of Early-Life Trauma.................................................................... 45 Complex Trauma .............................................................................................. 45 Intimate Partner Violence Experiences .............................................................47 Procedure .......................................................................................................... 47 III. RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 50 Data Screening and Missing Data ....................................................................... 50 Differences in Group Means ............................................................................... 51 Hypothesis 1 Honesty-Humility (H), Agreeableness (A), and Conscientiousness (C)........... 51 Hypothesis 2 Empathy ……………………............................................................................ 52 Research Question 3 Early-Life Trauma ………..…………............................................................... 52 Regression Analyses Hypothesis 3 Empathy predicts abuse and complex trauma……………..…………………..... 53 Cutoff Scores Research Question 4 Complex Trauma……………….………………………………………………. 54 Regression Analyses Hypothesis 4 Personality, empathy, abuse predicting complex trauma…………..………........ 55 Nonparametric Procedure Research Question 5 Early-life trauma and length of time in relationship……………………………..56 PERSONALITY TRAITS AND TRAUMA HISTORIES 6 V. DISCUSSION ...........................................................................................................58 Research Question 1 and Hypothesis 1 ......................................................................... 58 Research Question 2 and Hypothesis 3 …..................................................................... 62 Research Questions 3 and 5 ........................................................................................... 65 Research Question 4 ...................................................................................................... 65 Hypothesis 4 .................................................................................................................. 66 Strengths and Limitations .............................................................................................. 67 Sample ........................................................................................................................... 67 Design and Procedures .................................................................................................. 68 Implications and Future Research.................................................................................
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