Prevalence of Adaptive Narcissism and Its Demographic Correlations Among the Interns of Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Medical Faculty: A Cross-sectional Study

 Adaptive narcissism is the presence of narcissistic personality traits in otherwise normal individuals. Considering the potential effects of narcissism on the medical profession.

 The aim of the present study was to investigate the prevalence of adaptive narcissism and its demographic correlations among a medical student population using self-assessment tools.

 Participants were selected through cluster sampling among students spending their internship in the Medical School of Guilan University of Medical Sciences in 2019 (N = 138). The 40-item Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-40) was used to assess the prevalence of adaptive narcissism. Next, the demographic correlations of narcissism were studied.

 The prevalence of adaptive narcissism was 18.1%, with the NPI-40 mean score of 14.43. The self-sufficiency subscale of NPI-40 was correlated with the male gender (P = 0.01).

 Among medical interns, the whole constructs of adaptive narcissism are as high as found in a normal population and are not correlated with demographic characteristics of the given sample. The self-sufficiency subscale is positively correlated with the male gender.