Narcissist Kids May Blame Over-Praising Parents for Behavior Says Study

Parents over-praising kids may not usually bring about positive results, according to a study. A research report from the Proceedings of The National Academy of Sciences revealed parents that let their children know how much "special" they are all the time tend to become narcissistic.

The PNAS conducted a study for 565 kids, ages 7-11, and their parents in the Netherlands in a span of 18 months, according to The Guardian. The results of this study indicated that kids that received substantial amount of parental praises acquired higher narcissistic scores than their peers who did not.

Forbes indicated that the research writers have found that narcissism is more prevalent in Western than non-Western countries. In fact, these experts have discovered that narcissism has been dominant in many young people in Western countries for more than a decade now.

The narcissist attitude stemmed from the popular Freud theory that children have the tendencies to feel grandiose in unreasonable ways "when they (parents) are under a compulsion to ascribe every perfection to the child-which sober observation would find no occasion to do."

ABC 7 Chicago reported that kids who get constant praises go overboard in wanting to get recognized for excellent skills and achievements, as Brad Bushman, an author of an observational study on kids' behavior, discovered. Bushman, who is also a co-author of the study, noted that parents are encouraged to give compliments to their kids only after they've done good. Furthermore, he indicated there's a need for parents to monitor the frequency that they praise their kids.

PBS Newshour reported that typical characteristics of narcissists are being "overinflated sense of self, and suffer from vanity, materialism, entitlement", and having no empathy towards others. The same article reported that University of Amsterdam researcher, Eddie Brummelman, defined narcissistic children as, "feeling superior to others, believe they are entitled to privileges, and want to be admired by others."

Brummelman did note, though, that hereditary and environmental influences play major roles in developing kids into narcissists, according to Forbes. Parents of kids with narcissistic tendencies are recommended to motivate their kids to be down to earth. These kids live better by being humble when they receive compliments from others.

Narcissism can bring about serious professional and personal problems both in childhood and adulthood. Narcissistic people tend to drive away friends and colleagues over time, as their attitudes get annoying. These individuals tend to react violently when they don't get the constant praises they seek. Narcissism is also a major cause of depression and insecurity or low self-esteem.