6 Factors that originates narcissism in Kids
People diagnosed with narcissism or who show narcissistic traits have malevolent behaviors that harm others and are self-destructive too. Witnessing kids acquire such personalities can be hurtful. Find out the different factors that originate the narcissistic behaviors in innocent kids and adolescents. So, you can avoid consequences before it’s too late. Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) or the narcissistic traits in a person does not pop out suddenly out of nowhere. Instead, these dark triad personality traits of a narcissist are the impact of external factors that are experienced in his/her childhood. Fortunately, psychologists suggest that narcissism can only be diagnosed in adolescents above the age of 18. This determines that the narcissistic personality slowly builds up into children and fruits as a mental illness at age of 18. So, a proper regulation in personality development must be provided to a child to evade narcissistic traits in the future. Kids and adolescents inherit habits and personalities from society more than older people. Their mind is much focused and curious about learning something. With a constantly developing brain, children could learn things effortlessly at that age. That is why the young age sets a base for developing a personality for the child’s future. Give a Read: How to introduce Personality Development to Kids? Sources through narcissism steps into childhood Narcissism includes the traits of grandiose exhibitionism, a sense of entitlement, self-importance, and high self-esteem in a person. Children with narcissistic personalities look to be selfish and competitive fellows in others’ view. These traits indeed provide abilities attached to the traits that help them to perform well in academics. So, society does appreciate such traits in kids initially without knowing narcissism. When such personalities develop, a narcissistic individual will seek exploitation of others, entitlement, pride, and attention. He/she values any extrinsic assets other than intrinsic things like relationships and personal growth. They do not value the emotions of others and hurt others in seek of attention and control. This conniving behavior of narcissists results in self-destroying when people stop validating them. Any person would not want a kid to get engulfed in narcissism, and that is why they should be aware of what originates these characteristics in them and avoid them sooner. Wrong Parenting Childhood Shame Education System Lack of Personality Development Romantic Relationships Social Media are the major factors that influence the narcissistic personality in kids, teens, or adolescents. Regulating and modulating these aspects in the right way can prevent a child from falling into narcissism. 1. Wrong Parenting Research shows that parents who are authoritative and happy develop children with optimistic and kind behavior, whereas permissive parenting leads to developing negative and malicious behavior in kids. This shows how parenting impacts the character of the kids. A good way of parenting influences good morals, habits, and empathy in kids that helps the kid to become virtuous. Contrarily, bad parenting can cause kids to grow stressed, anxious, insecure, and other malevolent behaviors. Overvaluation, devaluation, abandonment, and narcissistic parents are the 4 main aspects of parenting styles that can develop narcissism in kids Overvaluation Idealization or overvaluation of a kid is that the parents think that their kids are special, precious, and deserve more attention. They think that their kids are far better than other kids and validate them often. Such parents do ignore or manipulate the flaws of the kids and tend to appreciate any behavior the kid possesses. For instance, if a kid loses a running race, a normal parent would react like “It’s okay, the opponent was good, you can win next time in practice”. But the overvaluing parents try to maneuver the flaws of the kid by saying “You were the best, the opponent got lucky or might have cheated”. This may look like a parent being affectionate and kind whereas it indeed creates a mindset of being special and superior in kids. In such a way the self-esteem and self-importance in kids peaks and that is the first stage to fall into narcissism. Devaluation If parents overvalue their kids, the expectation of them increases simultaneously. Such parents praise and admire their kids when they achieve something extrinsic from which they can be proud. They see their kids as a source of prestige in society and if that fails to happen, devaluation begins. The devaluation of kids is mostly verbal abuse, from which they hurt the child for not satisfying their expectations. They compare the kids with others, shame, and criticize repeatedly, makes the kid insecure and starve for validation. The devaluation practice mostly brings up covert narcissism in kids. Abandonment Giving kids the silent treatment or abandoning them will increase the longevity of affection, attachment as well as anger issues. Without any guidance from wise personas, a kid is more vulnerable to malicious acts in society. Such adolescents tend to become malignant narcissists and fall into addictive drugs and alcohol. Give a Read: What are the Types of Narcissism? Narcissistic Parents When a kid grows under the dark shadow of narcissistic parents, he/she is going to experience every possible narcissistic trait and learn survival tactics through them. The chance of sinking into narcissism gets increased every day due to the constant exposure to narcissistic behaviors. The kids might subconsciously believe that the lifestyle of their parents is what brings happiness and success. Following the same vicious path, the child slowly fell into the dark triad personality. 2. Childhood Shame You might come across narcissists who brag about their childhood traumas. Whether the trauma is from the abuse of parents, teachers, friends, or society; narcissists use this trauma as an excuse for justifying the actions of their personality traits. However, it was not the trauma that made them possess this narcissistic personality, but the shame. In the act of hiding the shame, they perceive them as trauma to validate their actions. The…