EPA-0171 – Development and validation of a two-factor french version of the hypersensitive narcissistic scale

The objectives of this study were to adapt-translate and validate a French version of the 10-item Hypersensitive narcissistic scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997), which is the most widely used measure of hypersensitive narcissistic pathology. Our newly translated version was submitted to a series of validity and reliability tests with non-clinical and clinical samples. Factor analyses revealed a stable 2-factor structure (Anxioussuspicious and Egocentric) with only 7 items. Correlation analyses with other measures (NPI, PNI, Mach-IV, Big-5, IPO and RSE) showed very good convergent and discriminant validity in both samples. Differences and similarities between non-clinical and clinical samples were mostly as expected. Test-retest reliability was satisfactory. This new 2-factor version could mean a significant improvement to the measure since it allows a clear delineation of two fundamental dimensions of the hypersensitive expression of narcissistic pathology, whose importance is increasingly recognized by clinicians and researchers.