Unraveling the Ties that Bind: Social Anxiety is Differentially Related to Vulnerable and Grandiose Narcissistic Traits

Social anxiety symptoms are associated with shyness and submissiveness. However, recent work has identified a subtype within Social Anxiety Disorder characterized by high levels of anger and impulsivity. This subtype bears conceptual similarities to prior accounts of vulnerable narcissism (e.g., hypersensitivity and interpersonal reactivity). However, no prior work has systematically evaluated the common and potentially distinguishing factors of these conceptually similar yet phenotypically distinct groups. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to utilize a Latent Profile Analysis (LPA) to distinguish whether vulnerable narcissistic traits are present within high anger, risk-prone individuals who are also socially anxious, or alternatively whether LPA can differentiate these profiles based on response patterns to theoretically relevant variables. LPA identified five distinct profiles based on varying levels of social anxiety, anger, impulsivity, and narcissistic traits, and supported the existence of the angry-impulsive socially anxious subtype as well as a relationship between this group and self-reported narcissistic traits. These findings have implications for treatment of this subgroup, and may provide a foundation for future research investigating why interventions for adults with SAD and angry-impulsive features often have limited success.