Grandiosity and confidence may lead to psychological benefits.
Young people who are somewhat grandiose and with an inflated sense of authority have higher levels of well-being, research finds.
Both of these traits — grandiosity and an inflated sense of self — are components of narcissism.
However, young people who displayed entitlement and a willingness to exploit others experienced lower life satisfaction.
This suggests that some aspects of narcissism can be beneficial to psychological health.
However, the findings were different for older people.
Narcissistic personality traits can change over the lifespan, explained Dr Patrick Hill, the study’s first author:
“Most people think of narcissism as a trait that doesn’t change much across the lifespan.
But a lot of recent studies have shown that the developmental trajectory of narcissism goes upward in adolescence and what we call emerging adulthood — the late teens and early 20s, and then typically declines.”
It may be that some aspects of narcissism are ‘useful’ when we are younger, but they naturally fade away with age.
The study included 368 undergraduate students and 439 of their family members.
It compared the personalities of young people with those of their mothers.
It tested both how they saw themselves and how they were seen by others.
The three aspects of narcissism the researchers examined were:
- Inflated sense of leadership: a person who believes they know a lot and others should come to them for advice.
- Grandiose exhibitionism: a person who likes to show off.
- Entitlement and a willingness to exploit others.
In contrast to the findings for young people, older adults with narcissistic traits were seen by others as neurotic and unreliable.
There was also no benefit to life satisfaction for the first two narcissistic traits, as was seen in younger people.
Not all forms of narcissism are always bad, the research concludes.
Professor Brent Roberts, study co-author, said that narcissism can help people to…
…navigate adolescence and the turmoil involved in trying to find a sense of identity.
Later in life, however, those same traits appear to be related to less life satisfaction and a poorer reputation.”
The study was published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science (Hill & Roberts, 2011).
