Come on, give it to me baby: Self-esteem, narcissism, and endorsing sexual coercion following social rejection

Endorsement and acceptance of sexually coercive strategies as a means to an end contributes to the global problem of sexual victimization. The current research tests how personality traits that make people sensitive to rejection (i.e., self-esteem) and predisposed to non-communal attitudes (i.e., narcissism) interact with a situational factor—perceived social rejection—to predict when people endorse the use of sexual coercion. This work also explores whether different facets of narcissism better predict endorsement of coercion than others. Participants in two online studies (N_total = 740), completed background measures including the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale and the Narcissistic Admiration and Rivalry Questionnaire. Next, participants were randomly assigned to write about a recent incident of rejection or acceptance by a close other. Finally, endorsement of sexual coercion was measured using a questionnaire (adapted from Shackelford & Goetz, 2004). Consistent with predictions, across two studies, single (but not romantically attached) people with high narcissism and low self-esteem were more likely to endorse sexual coercion following reminders of rejection by close others. Our findings demonstrate that personality and situational factors interact to predict endorsement of sexual coercion, and that focusing on either alone might obscure the path to understanding the “whos” and “whens” of sexual assault.