In a world of selfies and youth having more access to their own personal outlets such as social media, it’s no surprise that there’s a good deal of narcissism floating around.
But, it could be possible that the tendency to be narcissistic can be passed down, and even encouraged, by your parents, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
For the study, researchers assessed questionnaires by 565 children, completed between the ages of 7 and 11, to look at their levels of self-esteem (how content they are with themselves) and narcissism (the belief that they are above others.) The researchers also assessed the parents of the children to indicate behaviors including thinking their child deserves special treatment.
It was shown that types of parenting styles, such as those who overvalue their children, could lead to narcissistic behaviors in their children. Opposite to that, the parents who demonstrated high levels of warmth and kindness towards their children yielded kids who had a healthy level of self-esteem.
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