Trust in a partner depends in part on believing they will remain caring and supportive, even when the future is uncertain. A 2026 study by Guyonne Rogier and colleagues suggests that rivalry may undermine this confidence in relationships involving people with vulnerable narcissistic traits.
The researchers surveyed more than 4,000 Italian adults, with an average age of 32, using standard personality questionnaires. They assessed participants’ faith in their partners, vulnerable narcissism and rivalry, including tendencies to devalue others, want rivals to fail and become annoyed when someone else attracts attention.
The study’s statistical model linked vulnerable narcissism to rivalry toward a partner, which in turn was associated with lower trust. The authors describe vulnerable narcissism as involving sensitivity to possible rejection and less confidence in one’s own worth. In this account, a partner’s success or the disclosure of personal weaknesses may trigger competitive or defensive reactions.
The findings also distinguish vulnerable from grandiose narcissism. Grandiose narcissism, rather than vulnerable narcissism, directly predicted lower faith in a partner in the analysis. The authors suggest that grandiose individuals may also experience rivalry but feel more secure in their own importance.
Because the research was correlational, it does not establish that vulnerable narcissism causes rivalry or that rivalry causes trust to decline. The authors’ model instead points to rivalry as a possible explanation for the connection between narcissistic traits and poorer romantic trust.
The study, by Rogier, Falbo, Zinesi and Velotti, was published in the Journal of Couple & Relationship Therapy under the title “Is the link between pathological narcissism and poor romantic trust explained by rivalry?”
Sources: Psychology Today.