The Prevalence of Narcissistic Vulnerability in Men in English Prisons After Criminal Conviction for Stalking

Abstract

Background: In earlier research with prisoners, we observed that convicted stalkers had skill deficits in interpreting their experiences of stalking and their motivations for it, suggesting narcissistic vulnerability.

Aims: Our primary aim was to explore the prevalence of narcissistic vulnerability in men serving a prison sentence in England and to investigate differences in narcissistic vulnerability and attachment styles between men convicted of stalking offences and men convicted of other offences but serving similar sentences.

Methods: Participants were from across 16 closed custodial settings in England. Everyone serving a sentence for a stalking offence was invited to participate together with a same size sample of men serving similar sentences for other offences and without a stalking history. 25%-30% of the eligible men agreed to participate. Each completed three psychometric scales, rating themselves on the Narcissistic Vulnerability Scale (NVS), the Brief-Pathological Narcissism Inventory (B-PNI) and the Experiences in Close Relationships-Revised (ECR-R) scale. A series of independent sample t-tests were used to compare the experimental group to the other-conviction control group.

Results: Twenty-nine individuals sentenced for stalking offences and 25 other prisoners, all men, completed. The stalking group had significantly higher mean scores on narcissistic vulnerability according to both scales and significantly higher mean attachment style difficulties together with higher mean anxiety scores and avoidant scores.

Conclusions: Our findings add data on aspects of personality to a limited pool that supports understanding of men convicted of stalking. Although our sampling and data collection were both limited by the COVID-19 pandemic conditions, our findings further evidence the case for intervention with respect to ameliorating the personality characteristics of narcissistic vulnerability and attachment styles of such men.

Keywords: attachment style; narcissistic vulnerability; stalkers; stalking; treatment needs.