Narcissism and partner-enhancement at different relationship stages

Partner-enhancement refers to perceiving the romantic partner more positively than one’s own self. Partner-enhancement often varies as a function of relationship duration: It is stronger in the earlier than later stage of a relationship. We asked whether narcissism moderates the association between relationship duration and partner-enhancement. We conducted three studies, with two testing participants individually (N1 = 70; N2 = 412) and the third testing couples (N3 = 84). Overall, narcissism negatively predicted partner-enhancement. However, low narcissists enhanced their partners at earlier but not later relationship stages, whereas high narcissists showed little partner-enhancement across relationship stages. High narcissists do not enhance their partner, albeit they self-enhance, a pattern that may have consequences for the quality of their relationships.