Exploring Narcissistic Personality Disorder Among Higher Education Students in West Bengal: A Cross-Sectional Study Using a Culturally Adapted NPI-40

AbstractIntroduction: Though there are growing indications that NPD-related tendencies are becoming increasingly prevalent among young adults in India, relevant research remain scarce. This study aimed at exploring how subclinical narcissism manifests across different dimensions and severity levels among higher education students in West Bengal; focusing particularly on how gender, academic qualification, and institutional locality shape that experience.Methods: A total of 348 participants were purposively selected as sample from various rural and urban universities in West Bengal for this cross-sectional quantitative study. Data were collected in 2021 via an online Google Form using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI-40). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) with Varimax rotation was applied to derive a culturally adapted NPI structure. Independent samples t-tests examined demographic differences. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 28.0.Results: 45.70% of the total 348 participants scored at a high NPD level (above 20), while 42.80% fell within the borderline range (16–20), and just 11.50% scored in the normal level (10–15). PCA revealed six culturally meaningful components: Egomaniacal, Self-absorption, Self-assertion, Self-supremacism, Self-eroticism & Autocracy, and Self-centred Manoeuvre. Significant differences were observed in terms of gender; males scoring meaningfully higher on overall NPD (t = 2.551, p = .011). While there was significant differences in terms of Educational qualification (t = 2.106, p = .036), it was not the case with Locality of Institutions. Similarly, while Self-assertion indicated significant dimensional variation by only gender, Self-absorption differed by gender and educational qualification.Conclusions: A notable share of higher education students in West Bengal show signs of subclinical NPD, and both gender and educational qualification appear to play a meaningful role in shaping that variation. The six-component structure emerging from PCA goes beyond a simple statistical outcome; it offers a contextually tuned way of understanding narcissistic traits within the Indian higher education context, one that carries real implications for how educators and institutions might respond.