Adolescent Narcissism and the Double Edge of Risk and Adaptation

Daniel K. Lapsley Michael Earley Ball State University O’Dea High School

Nathan M. DumfordMiami University

SRA 2006 San Francisco

Narcissism has “two faces”

Narcissism as adaptation narcissism as defensive compensatory stance

that helps adolescents cope with sep-ind narcissism supports self-extension, ambition,

creativity, growth Narcissism as self-pathology or

personality disorder

The study of adolescent narcissism requires new assessment strategies

Three studies chart development of a theoretically-derived

adolescent narcissism scale

Theoretical Considerations

Adolescent narcissism emerges for good developmental reasons

to cope with self-vulnerabilities that attend separation-individuation

subjective omnipotence

Narcissistic omnipotence…

…”denotes a defensive and reactive heightening of self-esteem to cope with inner feelings of low self-worth, depressive mood

and empty feelings”

--Sarnoff (1987)

Study 1

examined relationship between

subjective omnipotence (personal fable)

and

narcissism (NPI)

risk behavior

internalizing symptoms

positive adjustment

Study 1 Participants

222 8th-graders (101 males, Mage = 13.39)

142 10th-graders (72 males, Mage = 15.43)

102 12th-graders (46 males, Mage = 17.45)

N = 467

Study 1

Omnipotence (α = .79) NPI (α = .83) Internalizing Symptoms

Children’s Depression Inventory (α = = .86) CES-D suicidal ideation (α = .86)

Risk Behavior Rowe: “Delinquent” risk behavior (α = .92) Substance use (α = =.74)

Positive adjustment SIQYA: Mastery Coping (α = .76) SIQYA: Superior Adjustment (α = .70)

Internalizing Symptoms Omnipotence NPI

Depression -.53 -.28

Suicidal Ideation -.37 -.17

Risk Behavior

Risk Behavior ns .23

Substance Use -.11 ns

Positive Adjustment

Mastery Coping .55 .43

Superior Adjustment .52 .45

Narcissism (NPI) .65 --

Omnipotence

strongly associated with mastery coping and adjustment

counterindicates depression counterindicates suicidal ideation converges with NPI narcissism sex effect (favoring males)

Study 2

standard scale development procedures yields 33 item scale

EFA 228 undergraduates

(73 males, Mage = 21.85)

3 factors retained scree and parallel analysis criteria 40% of the variance

Three Factors

Omnipotent Action/Control “Everybody knows that I am in charge” 12 items (α = .85)

Omnipotent Leadership “I would make a great leader because of my

abilities” 13 items (α = .83)

Omnipotent Influence “I influence how others behave” 7 items (α = .80)

Other Measures

CES-Depression

Adolescent Invulnerability Scale

Delinquent Risk Behavior

Omnipotence NPI

Action Leadership Influence

Risk Behavior .16 .13 .31 .39

Depression ns -.21 ns -.19

Invulnerability .26 .14 .35 .35

NPI Narcissism .44 .57 .40 --

Summary

Omnipotence scales converge with NPI-Narcissism

Omnipotence scales show differential relationship with risk behavior and depressive symptoms

Study 3

Document convergent validity in younger sample (using NPI-C)

Distinguish adolescent narcissism from self-worth

Explore relationship between narcissism and separation-individuation

Study Details

N = 142 males (Mage) = 16 Instruments

Adolescent Omnipotence Scale Action (α = .83) Leadership (α = .80) Influence (α = .80)

Narcissistic Personality Inventory-C (α = .86) Self-Perception Profile (α’s = .53 to .85) Dysfunctional Separation-Individuation

Self Dysfunctional S-I (α = .68) Relational Dysfunctional S-I (α = .73)

Self-Image Questionnaire for Young Adolescents Mastery Coping (α = .76) Superior Adjustment (α = .79)

Omnipotence Scales

Leadership Action Influence

NPI-C .64 .61 .51

Vanity .29 .32 .27

Authority .66 .60 .52

Exhibitionism .33 .23 .26

Superiority .39 .41 .23

Entitlement .18 .29 .24

Exploitativeness .41 .39 .41

Self-Sufficiency .53 .53 .39

Omnipotence Scales

NPI-C Leadership Action Influence

Mastery Coping .19 .30 ns ns

Superior Adjustment

.26 .44 .29 .27

Dysfunctional

Sep-Ind

ns ns ns .20

Self Dysfunctional

Sep-Ind

-.31 -.19 ns ns

Relational Dysfunctional

Sep-Ind

ns ns .17 .29

Omnipotence Scales

Self-Worth NPI-C Leadership Action Influence

Romantic -.36 -.42 -.40 -.36

Social -.26 -.34 ns -.31

Athletic -.32 -.29 ns ns

Conscience/

Moral

ns -.23 -.21 ns

Appearance -.20 ns ns ns

Summary

Omnipotence converges with narcissism omnipotence scales associated with indices

of positive adjustment are related to dysfunctional sep-ind counterindicate self-worth in test of means:

younger Ss more feelings of subjective omnipotence than older Ss

General Conclusions

theoretically-derived and reliable measure of adolescent narcissism factors converge with NPI and NPI-C predict adolescent risk behavior counterindicates internalizing affect positively associated with mastery coping and

adjustment which may be compensatory

association with dysfunctional sep-ind low scores on several dimensions of self-worth