Narcissism has been defined as an extreme or excessive interest or admiration of oneself, especially ones physical appearance, according to Wikipedia. In addition, it can be seen as extreme selfishness, with a craving for admiration and a “grandiose view of one’s own talents”. It is possibly seen as a social or cultural problem. Narcissism is a toxic personality trait.
Recent studies have been conducted which claim that too much praise can turn children into narcissists. In recent years, helicopter parenting, as well as other forms of “over parenting”, have been criticised as it is felt that today’s generation of children are unable to solve problems for themselves. Research has indicated that narcissism is higher in western countries and has been increasing in the youth over the past few decades. Studies have been conducted by Brad Bushman, at Ohio State University, which looked at parental behaviour in relation to their children. In his studies, Bushman and his collaborators looked at parents to see how they show warmth and valued their child’s accomplishments. Following this, they compared the findings to the children’s level of self-esteem and narcissism.
One of the first studies in this area was carried out using 565 children in the Netherlands who were between 7 and 11 years when the study began. These are the crucial ages for emerging narcissists. The children and parents were tested. The results indicated that “overvaluing” one’s children and providing unjustified and constant praise for one’s children’s accomplishments could results in the effect of an overinflated ego, which in turn can result in serious consequences later in life, as well as in their childhood. Studies carried out have thus revealed that parental over evaluation was the largest predictor of a child potentially being narcissistic over time, but did not predict self-esteem. Brad Bushman feels that people with high self-esteem think they are as good as others, but narcissists think that they are better than others. (It is also important to understand that narcissists tend to have high self-esteem, but not all people with high self-esteem are narcissists).
Many researchers believe that narcissism is linked to aggressive and violent behaviours. The studies conducted show that if you tell a child that they are better than others, or if you tell them how special or brilliant they are , this will not result in children with a good healthy self-esteem, but would rather result in them being more narcissistic. Children that are narcissistic often feel superior and better than the rest of the children, and will often crave attention and constant admiration from others, according to Eddie Brummelman, author of one of the research reports.
Narcissists have less empathy towards other people. The results of this behaviour can be an increased risk of addiction, and those with low self-esteem may mean higher risk of depression and anxiety. It is also important to be aware of the fact that narcissism can also occur as a results of genetic predisposition or due environmental environment factors. A further important factor to remember is that someone who is a narcissist at the age of 10 years, will not necessarily grow up to be a narcissist. There will be other contributing factors that influence the personality at that stage, e.g. the environment or parenting skills throughout the child’s adolescence.
Conclusions of the studies conducted thus indicate that it is not beneficial to the child if you falsely or insincerely inflate his self-worth. A parent should rather attempt to be more reserved about praise and try not to treat their children as if they were extra special. Parents should also concentrate on being more emotionally warm towards their children, as this may promote self-esteem, as opposed to over valuing them, which could promote narcissism.
References:
–http://www.forbes.com/…/parents-stop-overvaluing-your-kid-you-may-create
–http://www.newrepublic.com/…./study-excessive praise-parents-causes-child
–http://www.spring.org.uk/…./how-parents-turn-their-children-into-narci…
–http://www.en.Wikipedia.org/wiki/narcissism
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