Stefanie A. Nelemans

Origins of narcissism in children

Significance Narcissistic individuals feel superior to others, fantasize about personal successes, and believe they deserve special treatment. When they feel humiliated, they often lash out aggressively or even violently. Unfortunately, little is known about the origins of narcissism. Such knowledge is important for designing interventions to curtail narcissistic development. We demonstrate that narcissism in children is cultivated by parental overvaluation: parents believing their child to be more special and more entitled than others. In contrast, high self-esteem in children is cultivated by parental warmth: parents expressing affection and appreciation toward their child. These findings show that narcissism is partly rooted in early socialization experiences, and suggest that parent-training interventions can help curtail narcissistic development and reduce its costs for society. Narcissism levels have been increasing among Western youth, and contribute to societal problems such as aggression and violence. The origins of narcissism, however, are not well understood. Here, we report, to our knowledge, the first prospective longitudinal evidence on the origins of narcissism in children. We compared two perspectives: social learning theory (positing that narcissism is cultivated by parental overvaluation) and psychoanalytic theory (positing that narcissism is cultivated by lack of parental warmth). We timed the study in late childhood (ages 7–12), when individual differences in narcissism first emerge. In four 6-mo waves, 565 children and their parents reported child narcissism, child self-esteem, parental overvaluation, and parental warmth. Four-wave cross-lagged panel models were conducted. Results support social learning theory and contradict psychoanalytic theory: Narcissism was predicted by parental overvaluation, not by lack of parental warmth. Thus, children seem to acquire narcissism, in part, by internalizing parents’ inflated views of them (e.g., “I am superior to others” and “I am entitled to privileges”). Attesting to the specificity of this finding, self-esteem was predicted by parental warmth, not by parental overvaluation. These findings uncover early socialization experiences that cultivate narcissism, and may inform interventions to curtail narcissistic development at an early age.

Heterogeneity in development of adolescent anxiety disorder symptoms in an 8-year longitudinal community study.

In this study, we prospectively examined developmental trajectories of five anxiety disorder symptom dimensions (generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, school anxiety, separation anxiety disorder, and social anxiety disorder) from early to late adolescence in a community sample of 239 adolescents, assessed annually over 8 years. Latent growth modeling indicated different developmental trajectories from early into late adolescence for the different anxiety disorder symptoms, with some symptoms decreasing and other symptoms increasing over time. Sex differences in developmental trajectories were found for some symptoms, but not all. Furthermore, latent class growth analysis identified a normal developmental profile (including a majority of adolescents reporting persistent low anxiety disorder symptoms over 8 years) and an at-risk developmental profile (including a minority of adolescents reporting persistent high anxiety disorder symptoms over 8 years) for all of the anxiety disorder symptom dimensions except panic disorder. Additional analyses longitudinally supported the validity of these normal and at-risk developmental profiles and suggested differential associations between different anxiety disorder symptom dimensions and developmental trajectories of substance use, parenting, and identity development. Taken together, our results emphasize the importance of examining separate dimensions of anxiety disorder symptoms in contrast to a using a global, one-dimensional approach to anxiety.

Reply to Kealy et al.: Theoretical precision in the study of narcissism and its origins

We thank Kealy et al. (1) for noting that our article on the origins of narcissism (2) “is a notable contribution to the empirical literature” and “has important implications for helping parents foster appropriate and realistic self-views in their children.” However, they raise questions regarding the interpretation of our findings.

Identity Uncertainty and Commitment Making across Adolescence: Five-Year Within-Person Associations Using Daily Identity Reports.

A central assumption of identity theory is that adolescents reconsider current identity commitments and explore identity alternatives before they make new commitments in various identity domains (Erikson, 1968; Marcia, 1966). Yet, little empirical evidence is available on how commitment and exploration dynamics of identity formation affect each other across adolescence at the within-person level. Therefore, the current study (N = 494, Mage Time 1 = 13.3 years) examined reciprocal within-person longitudinal linkages between adolescents’ identity exploration and identity commitment making in the interpersonal and educational identity domains. For this purpose, we constructed a multilevel type cross-lagged panel model from early to late adolescence (i.e., across 5 successive years). Results supported Erikson’s (1968) hypothesis that adolescents reconsider current identity commitments and explore alternatives before they make strong commitments within the interpersonal identity domain across early to late adolescence. Within the educational identity domain, increasing identity commitment level and commitment fluctuations predicted less identity reconsideration over time. Our findings support identity theory, but indicate that the processes of identity formation might differ depending on the identity domain.

Mother and adolescent expressed emotion and adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom development : A six-year longitudinal study

In expressed emotion (EE) theory, it is held that high EE household environments enhance adolescent psychopathological distress. However, no longitudinal study has been conducted to examine if either the mother’s EE or the adolescent’s perception of EE predicts adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions (an EE effect model) or vice versa (psychopathological effect model) together in one model. To unravel the reciprocal influences of maternal and adolescent perceived EE to adolescent internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions, we tested two (i.e., one for internalizing and one for externalizing) cross-lagged panel models. In this study, it was found that both internalizing and externalizing symptom dimensions predicted the adolescent’s perception of maternal EE as well as the mother’s own rated EE criticism over time. The findings of this study should give both researchers and therapists a reason to reevaluate only using the EE effects model assumption in future EE studies.

Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) Short Form: Longitudinal Measurement Invariance in Two Community Samples of Youth

In this study, we examined the longitudinal measurement invariance of a 12-item short version of the Social Anxiety Scale for Adolescents (SAS-A) in two 4-year longitudinal community samples (Nsample 1 = 815, Mage T1 = 13.38 years; Nsample 2 = 551, Mage T1 = 14.82 years). Using confirmatory factor analyses, we found strict longitudinal measurement invariance for the three-factor structure of the SAS-A across adolescence, across samples, and across gender. Some developmental changes in social anxiety were found from early to mid-adolescence, as well as gender differences across adolescence. These findings suggest that the short version of the SAS-A is a developmentally appropriate instrument that can be used effectively to examine adolescent social anxiety development.

Genetic vulnerability to schizophrenia is associated with cannabis use patterns during adolescence

BACKGROUND Previously reported comorbidity between schizophrenia and substance use may be explained by shared underlying risk factors, such as genetic background. The aim of the present longitudinal study was to investigate how a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia was associated with patterns of substance use (cannabis use, smoking, alcohol use) during adolescence (comparing ages 13-16 with 16-20 years). METHOD Using piecewise latent growth curve modelling in a longitudinal adolescent cohort (RADAR-Y study, N = 372), we analyzed the association of polygenic risk scores for schizophrenia (PRS; p-value thresholds (pt) < 5e-8 to pt < 0.5) with increase in substance use over the years, including stratified analyses for gender. Significance thresholds were set to adjust for multiple testing using Bonferroni at p ≤ 0.001. RESULTS High schizophrenia vulnerability was associated with a stronger increase in cannabis use at age 16-20 (PRS thresholds pt < 5e-5 and pt < 5e-4; pt < 5e-6 was marginally significant), whereas more lenient PRS thresholds (PRS thresholds pt < 5e-3 to pt < 0.5) showed the reverse association. For smoking and alcohol, no clear relations were found. CONCLUSIONS In conclusion, our findings support a relation between genetic risk to schizophrenia and prospective cannabis use patterns during adolescence. In contrast, no relation between alcohol and smoking was established.

Differential Loneliness Scale

The term “loneliness” refers to the negative feelings that emerge when people experience their social relationships as deficient (Perlman and Peplau 1981). The Differential Loneliness Scale (DLS; Schmidt and Sermat 1983), which is only used as a research instrument, comprises 60 items, which are answered “true” or “false.” The scale measures loneliness in four kinds of relationships, that is, friendships, relationships with family members, romantic-sexual relationships, and relationships with larger groups or the community. Theoretical Background

The role of stress reactivity in the long-term persistence of adolescent social anxiety symptoms ☆

Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) symptoms demonstrate a marked persistence over time, but little is known empirically about short-term processes that may account for this long-term persistence. In this study, we examined how self-reported and physiological stress reactivity were associated with persistence of SAD symptoms from early to late adolescence. A community sample of 327 adolescents (56% boys, Mage=13.01 at T1) reported their SAD symptoms for 6 successive years and participated in a public speaking task, during which self-reported (i.e., perceived nervousness and heart rate) and physiological (i.e., cortisol and heart rate) measures of stress were taken. Overall, our results point to a developmental process in which adolescents with a developmental history of higher SAD symptoms show both heightened perceived stress reactivity and heart rate reactivity, which, in turn, predict higher SAD symptoms into late adolescence.