The mediating role of narcissism in the effects of regulatory mode on positivity

Positivity (i.e., the individual tendency to positively approach life experiences) has proven to be an effective construct applied inpositive psychology. However, individuals’ self-regulation may have contrasting effects on positivity.We specifically examinedwhether positivity could be partially explained through two aspects of motivation concerned with self-regulation: locomotion(i.e., a motivational orientation concerned with movement) and assessment (i.e., a motivational orientation concerned withcomparison and evaluation). Furthermore, based on previous literature that found a link between these aspects and narcissism,we examined whether “adaptive” and “maladaptive” dimensions of narcissism could mediate the effects of locomotion andassessment on increased or decreased positivity. Narcissism was defined by previous research as adaptive or maladaptive insofaras it leads or does not lead to increased psychological well-being. We estimated a mediation model with multiple independentvariables and multiple mediators in a cross-sectional study with self-reported data from 190 university students. We found thatboth locomotion and assessment were associated with adaptive narcissism, which in turn was positively associated with positivity.However, assessment was also associated with maladaptive narcissism, which in turn was negatively associated withpositivity. Relationships between aspects of self-regulation, narcissism, and positivity can have significant implications whichwill be discussed.