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ABSTRACT
This study investigated the links between parenting and grandiose narcissism in hopes of clarifying recent empirical discrepancies. One-hundred forty-five participants completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory and reported about their parents’ support, coldness, monitoring, psychological control, and overvaluation. Psychological control was associated positively with narcissism, whereas monitoring and coldness were associated negatively. Overvaluation and parental support showed no reliable associations with narcissism. Analysis of the components of narcissism further elucidated these links. The results are interpreted in light of previous findings and as consistent with social learning and psychodynamic theories regarding the origins of narcissism.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This project began as the second author's senior thesis and was continued with the assistance of Connor O’Rear. The authors thank him for his help in data collection, entry, and analysis.
Notes
1. It is worth noting that the noncompensated volunteers and those who received course credit were equally unfamiliar with the researchers who distributed the surveys. All participants were approached in the same manner and with the request to take a few minutes to complete a short survey. Participants were asked only after completing the survey whether they were enrolled in a psychology class for which they might receive course credit. If they were, they received such credit.
2. Though this retrospective reporting of parenting makes the results vulnerable to alternative explanations, such as inaccurate memory, it is a procedure that has been commonly used in studies that assess links between narcissism and parenting behavior in young adults (e.g., Horton et al., Citation2006; Otway & Vignoles, Citation2006; Watson et al., Citation1995). Further, such a procedure was used in the studies whose discrepant results this project is attempting to clarify.