Expanding the utility of the malignant self-regard construct

• Self-structure is similar for masochistic, depressive, and narcissistic personalities.
• To test this hypothesis, the MSR Questionnaire (MSRQ) was developed.
• The MSRQ is internally consistent and temporally stable over 4 and 8 weeks.
• MSR is related to the internalizing spectrum of personality pathology.

The empirical and theoretical literature suggest that several proposed personality disorders (PDs) – Masochistic/Self-Defeating, Depressive, and Vulnerably Narcissistic – may be related through a common self-representation know as Malignant Self-Regard (MSR). To assess this construct, the MSR Questionnaire (MSRQ) was developed. Though its initial psychometric properties were very strong, the present study extended these findings by examining the relationship of the MSRQ with measures of other PDs and depressive subtypes, and by establishing four-week and eight-week test–retest reliability in two samples (Ns=840, 911) of undergraduate students. The MSRQ was internally consistent and temporally stable over four and eight weeks. It was positively correlated with measures of introjective and anaclitic depression, measures of Self-Defeating, Depressive, and Vulnerably Narcissistic personalities (rs ranging between 0.60 and 0.82), and other select PDs. After controlling for depressive symptoms and self-esteem, the highest remaining partial correlations were with Vulnerably Narcissistic, Self-Defeating, Depressive, and Avoidant personalities. A factor analysis of the MSRQ with measures of other PDs yielded a two-factor solution, with MSR loading most strongly on one factor, along with Vulnerably Narcissistic, Avoidant, Depressive, and Self-Defeating personalities. It is concluded that MSR is a psychometrically supported construct that might have good clinical utility in explaining personality pathology that has historically been difficult to assess.