Sentirsi in diritto di prevaricare gli altri: caratteristiche narcisistiche di personalità, ragionamento morale e aggressività in un campione non clinico di adolescenti

Objective: Examining the relations among proactive and reactive dimensions of aggression, overt and covert manifestations of narcissism, and styles of moral reasoning. Method: 674 Italian adolescent high school students (mean age = 15.5 years, SD = 2.1 years) were administered the following measures: Reactive-Proactive Aggression Questionnaire, Narcissistic Personalità Inventory, Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale, Prosocial Reasoning Objective Measure. Relations among key variables were analyzed using correlation analyses, regression analyses, and mediation models. Results: Hedonistic moral reasoning was significantly correlated with manifestations of aggression, as well as with overt aspects of narcissism. Moreover, overt narcissism statistically mediated the relations between moral reasoning and both proactive and reactive dimensions of aggression. Conclusions: These findings suggested hedonistic moral reasoning may be a risk factor in adolescence for both proactive and reactive dimensions of aggression when it is part of a broader narcissistic disposition.