Examining of the relationship between career choice and narcissistic personality traits

Narcissism is one of the concepts that has been always taken interest and still discussed in psychology. It is considered as the plague of the present age by some experts and defined as the selfish personality structure in which people see themselves superior to other people and use others for their own interests. The predominance of this personality trait may pose a risk in some professions. It can be predicted that people with this personality trait will make both themselves and the groups they serve unhappy particularly in occupational groups which do not suitable for selfish personality structure and where individuals are expected to have such characteristics as sacrifice, self-commitment or empathy. The aim of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between narcissistic personality traits and career choice among university students and to investigate the factors affecting this relationship. The study included a total of 394 students 235 females and 159 males studying in different departments at Cukurova University. Personal Information Form and Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) were applied to the students from three different fields: health sciences, social sciences, and natural sciences. Of the participants, 39,3% were studying in the field of health sciences, 40,6% in the field of social sciences and 20,1% in the field of natural sciences. The mean scores of the students studying in the field of natural sciences (7,0±3,7) showed a higher level of narcissistic tendency than those studying in the fields of social sciences (6,0±3,6) and health sciences (5,6±3,7) (p=0,018). Statistically significant differences were obtained in terms of exploitation (p=0,001) and superiority (p=0,033) sub-dimensions, however, no significant difference was observed in other sub-dimensions. Whereas the highest narcissistic score was observed in dental students (8,2±2,4), the mean narcissism score of the students studying in the department of engineering was (7,0±3,7) and (7,7±3,9) in fine arts was found to be higher than those studying in the other departments (faculty of medicine, vocational school of health, departments of education and theology). Although there was no significant difference in the mean scores between the students studying in the departments of dentistry, fine arts, and engineering, the mean scores of these students showed a statistically significant difference with those of the students studying in other departments. No significant difference was observed between the students studying in the faculty of medicine, vocational school of health, and departments of education and theology, whose scores were lower than others. When the narcissistic scores of university students were compared according to their classes, a significant relationship was found in terms of the total narcissism scores and exploitation sub-dimension (p=0,001). Senior students were observed to have higher narcissistic tendencies than freshman students (6,4±3,3) and (5,8±3,6, respectively) (p=0,034). The level of narcissistic personality was found to be significantly correlated with the gender and class of students, educational level of their parents, their family type, and their perspectives on the profession. The results obtained suggest that there is a relationship between the occupational field and the narcissistic personality structure. And the perception of the profession and educational environments foster the narcissistic personality structure.