The Apple of Daddy’s Eye: Parental Overvaluation Links the Narcissistic Traits of Father and Child

Gabrielle Coppola, Pasquale Musso, Carlo Buonanno, Cristina Semeraro, Barbara Iacobellis, Rosalinda Cassibba, Valentina Levantini, Gabriele Masi, Sander Thomaes and Pietro Muratori
Additional contact information
Gabrielle Coppola: Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy
Pasquale Musso: Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy
Carlo Buonanno: Scuola di Psicoterapia Cognitiva and Associazione di Psicologia Cognitiva, 00185 Rome, Italy
Cristina Semeraro: Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy
Barbara Iacobellis: Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy
Rosalinda Cassibba: Department of Education, Psychology, Communication, University of Bari Aldo Moro, 70122 Bari, Italy
Valentina Levantini: IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, 56128 Pisa, Italy
Gabriele Masi: IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, 56128 Pisa, Italy
Sander Thomaes: Department of Psychology, Utrecht University, 3512 JE Utrecht, the Netherlands
Pietro Muratori: IRCCS Fondazione Stella Maris, Scientific Institute of Child Neurology and Psychiatry, 56128 Pisa, Italy

IJERPH, 2020, vol. 17, issue 15, 1-16

Abstract: This study contributes to the literature on the parental correlates of children’s narcissism. It addresses whether parental overvaluation may drive the putative link between parents’ narcissism and children’s narcissism and self-esteem. The cross-sectional design involved a community sample of 519 school-age children (age ranging from 9 to 11 years old) and their parents from an Italian urban context. Child-reported measures included narcissistic traits and self-esteem, while parent-reported measures included narcissistic traits and overvaluation, as well as parenting styles. A series of structural equation models, run separately for mothers and fathers, showed that both parents’ narcissism was directly and positively related to overvaluation and the children’s narcissistic traits; overvaluation partially mediated the indirect link between the fathers’ and children’s narcissistic traits. None of the parenting-style dimensions were related to the children’s outcomes, with the exception of the mothers’ positive parenting being directly and positively related to children’s self-esteem. These findings shed new light upon the parental correlates of child narcissism by suggesting that mothers and fathers convey their narcissism to their offspring through differential pathways. Our findings may be understood from universal as well as cultural specifics regarding the parenting roles of mothers and fathers. Clinical implications for the treatment of youth narcissism suggest the potential of targeting not only children but also their parents.

Keywords: childhood narcissistic traits; parental overvaluation; parenting; father’s narcissism; parenting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5515/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/15/5515/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:17:y:2020:i:15:p:5515-:d:392200

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().