Hostility is related to narcissism controlling for social desirability: studies of college students and patients with myocardial infarction.

The authors examined the influence of narcissism and social desirability on hostility in two samples of 215 college students and 30 patients with myocardial infarction (MI). Results were as follows: (1) MI patients had stronger cynical hostility and lower social desirability than college students; (2) hostility was related to narcissism before and after controlling for social desirability in both MI patients and college students; and (3) these tendencies were stronger in MI patients than in college students, although there were no significant differences.