Serve Yourself or Serve Your Students? How and When Supervisor Narcissism is Related to Mental Health of Graduate Students

Wenxin Wu,1,* Kai Chang,2,3,* Liying Bai1 1School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute of Education, Xiamen University, Xiamen, People’s Republic of China; 3College of Chemistry, Fuzhou University, Fuzhou, People’s Republic of China*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Liying Bai, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Fuzhou University, 2 Wulongjiang North Avenue, Fuzhou, 350108, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]: The mental health of graduate students is increasingly turning into one of the main issues in global health. Understanding the antecedents of graduate students’ mental health and finding ways to improve the situation are crucial for the students and the entire educational system.Purpose: This study explores the relationship between supervisor narcissism and graduate students’ mental health. Additionally, the study examines the mediating effects of mentorship styles (relationship-oriented and task-oriented) and the moderating role of student’s proactive personality.Methods: This study conducted a three-wave survey, with each wave administered at four-month intervals, involving 547 graduate students. They completed questionnaires on supervisor narcissism, mentorship styles, proactive personality, and mental health. SPSS 26.0 was used to test our hypotheses.Results: This study indicated that: (1) Supervisor narcissism was negatively associated with graduate students’ mental health, fully mediated by relationship-oriented and task-oriented mentorships; (2) Graduate students’ proactive personalities moderated the relationship between these mentorship styles and their mental health; (3) Graduate students’ proactive personalities moderated the indirect effect of supervisor narcissism on students’ mental health through these mentorship styles.Conclusion: This study reveals the detrimental mechanisms through which supervisor narcissism affects graduate students’ mental health. It also demonstrates that enhancing students’ proactive personalities can mitigate these adverse effects. These findings provide empirical evidence within the context of higher education. Practical implications are provided for supervisors, students, and university administrators, emphasizing the importance of effectively matching supervisors with students and promoting students’ proactive personalities. These measures are essential for improving the mental health of graduate students.Keywords: supervisor narcissism, mental health, mentorship style, proactive personality