Identifying the Relationship Between the Angry Impulsive Social Anxiety Subtype and Vulnerable Narcissism Utilizing Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

Individuals with Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) are typically perceived by others as shy, submissive, or risk-averse. However, recent work has identified an understudied subtype within SAD characterized by high levels of anger and high-risk or novelty-seeking impulsive behaviors. Interestingly, this subtype bears conceptual similarities with prior accounts of vulnerable narcissism. For example, both are associated with concerns regarding self-presentation and how they are perceived by others. The angry-impulsive subtype and vulnerable narcissism may further share similar etiologic origins and similar associations with self-reported anger, impulsivity, and anxiety-related characteristics. However, despite these key similarities no prior work has systematically evaluated the common and potentially distinguishing factors within and between these conceptually similar but diagnostically distinct groups. For example, cognitive features such as fear of negative evaluation and interpersonal rivalry could be distinguishing features of SAD and vulnerable narcissism, although the utility of these distinguishing features to clarify the differential diagnosis remains unknown. Accordingly, the purpose of this study was to utilize a person-centered analytic approach (latent profile analysis; LPA) to empirically establish whether vulnerable narcissistic traits exist within high anger, risk-prone individuals who are also socially anxious, or alternatively whether specific features of each disorder can be used to disambiguate them empirically. Results of this work supported the existence of the angry impulsive socially anxious subtype and supported a relationship between that group and vulnerable narcissistic traits. These findings have implications for treatment selection among affected individuals and may further clarify why prior work evaluating interventions for adults with SAD and angry impulsive features has been met with only limited success.