Abstract

The aim of the present study is to examine relations of self-esteem and narcissism with aggressiveness. The Self-Esteem Scale, Narcissistic Personality Inventory, Aggression Questionnaire, State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-Korean version were administered to 299 university students. The main results are ; (1) students with low self-esteem showed higher Anger, Hostility, Physical Aggression and Anger-In than those with high self­esteem did, after their narcissism was statistically controlled, (2) students with high narcissism showed higher Anger, Physical/Verbal Aggression and Anger-Out than those with low narcissism did, after self­esteem was statistically controlled, and (3) when the two anger-prone groups, i.e., high narcissism group and low self-esteem group were compared, the former group showed higher Verbal Aggression but lower Hostility and Anger-In than the latter group did, whereas there was no significant difference between the two groups in Anger and Physical Aggression. These results suggest that aggressive or anger-prone people can be divided into high narcissism group and low self-esteem group for psychotherapeutic approach as well as research on aggressiveness.