Examining the correlation between narcissistic personality tendency and commitment to relationship, satisfaction of relationship and self- esteem among university students who have romantic relationships: An example of the province of Istanbul

The purposes of this study were: (1) examine the relations and differences between narcissistic tendency and self-esteem, satisfaction of relationship and commitment to relationship in romantic relations among university students in Istanbul, (2) determine changes of these relations and differences based on the gender and (3) present situation of these independent variables in the different levels of narcissism. This study was conducted among 150 students in three different universities with different majors between October, 11, 2013 and December 6, 2013 in Istanbul. Five different data collection tools were conducted: demographic form, Narcissistic Personality Questionnaire, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Relationship Stability Scale and Relationship Assessment Scale. Due to the fact that the data was normally distributed; parametric statistical measures was applied. The relation between variables was examined by Pearson correlation method. Statistical significance level of α = 0.05 have been selected. The situation of independent variables in the different levels of narcissism was analyzed using T-test and Anova test. It is found that narcissistic personality tendencies are connected with both the commitment to relationship and relationship satisfaction in a mid-level and negative way. Narcissism is divided into three levels: those with normal narcissism, those who are on the boundary and those who are close to narcissistic personality disorder. Considering the condition of these three groups with independent variables, it is found that there is statistically significant difference between relationship satisfaction and commitment to relationship of those who are close to narcissistic personality disorder and those with normal narcissism. In addition, there is statistically significant difference between commitments of those who are close to narcissistic personality disorder or on the boundary and those with normal narcissism to a relationship. When binary groups compare; there is statistically difference between commitment to relationship of those normal narcissism and those who are on the boundary and also between commitment to relationship of those normal narcissism and those who are close to narcissistic personality disorder. On the other hand, there is not statistically significant between commitment to relationship those who are on the boundary and those who are close to narcissistic personality disorder. The results are discussed in the light of the literature and other research. The results demostrate that; there is a positive correlation between narcistic tendency and self respect, negative correlation between narcistic tendency and saturation of relationship and commitment to relationship. The results show that there is no change based on gender. The results are compared with similar studies. Keywords: Narcissistics personality tendency, Self- esteem, Relationship Satisfaction, Commitment to Relationship.