Personality and Individual Differences 154 (2020) 109615

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Personality and Individual Differences

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/paid

The aetiology of non-clinical narcissism: Clarifying the role of adverse T

childhood experiences and parental overvaluation
⁎
Kim Thy Nguyen, Lauren Shaw
School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This research investigated the unique contribution of adverse childhood experiences (psychoanalytic theory) and
Aetiology narcissism parental overvaluation (social learning theory) in the development of grandiose and vulnerable narcissism in
Grandiose narcissism adults (N = 263). Multiple linear regressions revealed that, as expected, adverse childhood experiences, but not
Vulnerable narcissism parental overvaluation, predicted vulnerable narcissism while parental overvaluation, but not adverse childhood
Self-report adverse childhood experiences
experiences, predicted grandiose narcissism. Albeit, predictive effects were small in all analyses. Further ana-
Self-report parental overvaluation
lyses revealed that 1) adverse childhood experiences significantly predicted vulnerable narcissism over and
above the effects of past mental health disorders; and, 2) correlation patterns of the Adverse Childhood
Experience Questionnaire subscales were positively associated with vulnerable narcissism, but negatively as-
sociated with grandiose narcissism. Combined, these findings strengthen the two-type model of narcissism and
have implications for both research and society at macro and individual levels.

1. Introduction later development of narcissistic traits (Millon, 1981; Otway and

Vignoles, 2006; Thomaes, Bushman, De Castro, & Stegge, 2009).
Narcissism, as a personality trait, is characterised by feelings of Second, psychoanalytic theories suggest that cold, dismissive and
grandiosity and entitlement to special treatment, strong need for ad- traumatic experiences in childhood may give rise to narcissistic traits
miration, reduced empathy, and antagonism toward others (Freud, 1957; Kernberg, 1975; Kohut, 1971).
(American Psychiatric Association, 2013; Foster, Campbell, & Twenge,
2003; Miller et al., 2011). Narcissism is further associated with anti- 1.1. Grandiose versus vulnerable narcissism
social behaviours in multiple life areas, including dysfunctional inter-
personal relationships (Sedikides, Campbell, Reeder, Elliot, & Gregg, Recent developments suggest two conceptually distinct variants of
2002), cheating at work (Blair, Helland, & Walton, 2017), aggressive narcissism: grandiose and vulnerable (Wink, 1991). Grandiose narcis-
driving (Bushman, Steffgen, Kerwin, Whitlock, & Weisenberger, 2018), sism features include exhibitionism, self-serving distortions, egocen-
child physical abuse (Crouch et al., 2015), bullying (Fan, Chu, Zhang, & tricity, exploitative behaviours, grandiose self-presentations and
Zhou, 2016; Fanti and Henrich, 2015) and violence and aggression grandiose fantasies; whereas vulnerable narcissism is associated with
(Lambe, Hamilton-Giachritsis, Garner, & Walker, 2016). Evidence in- self-absorption, introversion, avoidance, emotional instability and fra-
dicates that levels of trait narcissism have risen approximately 30% gility (Ackerman, Hands, Donnellan, Hopwood, & Witt, 2016;
since the early 1980′s (Twenge, 2014, 2008). Given the growth in Jauk, Weigle, Lehmann, Benedek, & Neubauer, 2017; Miller et al.,
narcissistic traits and its association with antisocial, destructive beha- 2011, 2017; Miller, Lynam, Hyatt, & Campbell, 2017). The distinction
viour, it is important to understand how narcissism develops. between these types of narcissism has been supported (Fossati et al.,
Attempts to explain the aetiology of narcissism have yielded two 2009; Miller et al., 2011, 2017), with studies demonstrating that while
prevailing and seemingly opposing theories, including theories from both forms shared common features (e.g., low empathy, low agree-
social learning theory and from psychoanalytic theory. First, social ableness and high entitlement), overall their nomological networks
learning perspectives have suggested that parents’ excessive valuation showed no association (r = −0.06; Miller et al., 2011).
of children's behaviour, based on no or limited grounds, leads to the Alternatively, historical approaches to narcissism conceptualised

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.
⁎
Corresponding author at: School of Psychological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences, Monash University, Clayton Campus, Wellington
Road Clayton, VIC 3800, Australia.
E-mail address: [email protected] (L. Shaw).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2019.109615
Received 29 May 2019; Received in revised form 10 September 2019; Accepted 11 September 2019
0191-8869/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
K.T. Nguyen and L. Shaw Personality and Individual Differences 154 (2020) 109615

grandiose and vulnerable narcissism as interchangeable (e.g. the psy- 1.4. Summary and the present study
chodynamic mask model of narcissism) though these conceptualisations
were based on clinical populations, which present with more severe Two seemingly opposing theories regarding the development of trait
forms of narcissism and are more likely to meet the diagnostic criteria narcissism have been proposed. The psychoanalytic approach empha-
for Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) (Freud, 1914/1957; sises the role of ACEs in the development of narcissism, while the social
Kernberg, 1975; Kohut, 1971). Based on this past work and more recent learning approach highlights parental overvaluation. Growing evidence
theories distinguishing maladaptive and adaptive forms of narcissism indicates two distinct types of narcissism, but there are a limited
(see Pincus & Lukowitsky, 2010), preliminary evidence indicates that at number of studies testing both theories in the aetiology of each type of
a clinical level, there may be overlap between grandiose and vulnerable narcissism. Based on evidence that the unique characteristics of vul-
narcissism; such that those who meet the criteria for NPD are also more nerable narcissism are evident in individuals who experienced abuse in
likely to present with elevated levels of both types of narcissism childhood, the psychoanalytic approach could, arguably, account for
(Jauk et al., 2017). However, these findings did not extend to the trait the development of vulnerable narcissism. Conversely, the social
(i.e., non-clinical) level, where grandiose and vulnerable narcissism learning approach that emphasises parental overvaluation could ac-
have emerged as largely discrete constructs. As this paper explores count for the development of grandiose narcissism. Therefore, the
narcissism as a personality trait in the general population, the aetiology current study aimed to examine the relationship between ACEs, par-
of NPD will not be explored, and further, grandiose and vulnerable ental overvaluation and trait narcissism, and determine if these re-
narcissism will be treated as unique constructs. Specifically, we propose lationships differ between vulnerable and grandiose narcissism.
that these types of narcissism are likely to have different aetiological Consistent with psychoanalytic theory, we expected that greater ad-
pathways, which could reflect the social learning and psychoanalytic verse childhood experiences would positively predict vulnerable nar-
theories mentioned above. Recent theories indicate that cold, abusive cissism but would not predict grandiose narcissism (hypothesis 1).
experiences in childhood may be uniquely associated with the devel- Reflecting the social learning approach, we hypothesised that greater
opment of traits underlying vulnerable narcissism (Miller et al., 2010) parental overvaluation would positively predict grandiose narcissism
and parental overvaluation may be distinctly associated with greater but would not predict vulnerable narcissism (hypothesis 2).
grandiose narcissism (Otway & Vignoles, 2006).
2. Method

1.2. Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and narcissism The study was an online self-report survey conducted using
Qualtrics. The survey settings were adjusted to avoid participants
It has been suggested that the antagonistic and distrustful behaviour completing the study more than once.
associated with vulnerable narcissism stems from emotional dysregu-
lation and maladaptive relationship schemas (Miller et al., 2011) linked 2.1. Participants and procedure
to ACEs (Crawford & Wright, 2007; Kim & Cicchetti, 2010). Vulnerable
narcissism has also been associated with anxious and avoidant attach- An a-priori power analysis using G*Power indicated that a
ment styles (Miller et al., 2011; Pistol, 1995) and there is robust evi- minimum sample of 80 participants would be required to detect a
dence that these attachments styles are also common in victims of abuse medium effect (1-β = 0.8; α = 0.05). A convenience sample of 263
(Baer & Martinez, 2006). Similarly, high levels of depression and an- participants (90% female), aged approximately 45 years old (SD=
xiety are reported in both vulnerable narcissisism and childhood mal- 13.8) were recruited through paid Facebook advertising. Recent re-
treatment populations (Lindert et al., 2014; Rose, 2002). Research di- search has shown that Facebook samples have similar characteristics to
rectly studying ACEs and narcissism is limited, usually confined to NPD samples collected via traditional methods (Kosinski, Matz, Gosling,
(Afifi et al., 2011; Johnson, Cohen, Brown, Smailes, & Bernstein, 1999, Popov, & Stillwell, 2015). Despite following online research guidelines
2000). While some of these studies have found associations between (Thornton et al., 2016) there was a large gender disparity in the sample.
ACEs and NPD, others have not (Battle et al., 2004; Lobbestael, Arntz, & Limitations of this are addressed in the discussion.
Bernstein, 2010). Moreover, most of these studies focused on the as- Inclusion criteria specified that participants must have resided in
sociation between ACEs and grandiose narcissism, with few studies the USA or Australia and be over 21 years old. Half the sample was from
examining vulnerable narcissism, or investigating both types simulta- the USA (51.7%), most reported they were Caucasian (86.3%), married
neously (Crowe, LoPilato, Campbell, & Miller, 2016; Miller et al., (58.6%) and had completed a graduate degree (39.9%). Since in-
2010). dividuals high in narcissistic traits often experience comorbid mental
health issues (Miller et al., 2011), mental health history was also re-
corded. In this sample, depressive disorders were most commonly re-
1.3. Parental overvaluation and narcissism ported (36.5%) followed by anxiety disorders (34.6%). Participants
gave their consent by checking a box after reading an information sheet
There has been a paucity of studies testing the social learning theory about the study. Participation in the study was voluntary and anon-
approach to the development of grandiose narcissism. One study found ymous, and participants could withdraw at any stage before submitting
that overvaluation predicted grandiose narcissism but not vulnerable the survey. Participants were given the opportunity to enter a draw to
narcissism (Otway & Vignoles, 2006); however, these findings were not win one of three AUD$50 Amazon vouchers upon completion of the
replicated in a later investigation (Horton & Tritch, 2014). A long- study.
itudinal study (Brummelman et al., 2015) measured overvaluation be-
haviours in parents and levels of trait narcissism in their children over 2.2. Materials
four, 6-month periods and found that greater parental overvaluation
predicted greater narcissistic traits in children. The authors claimed 2.2.1. Narcissistic personality inventory
that their findings support the social learning theory approach and Grandiose narcissism was measured using the Narcissistic
contradict psychoanalytic theory. However, the child narcissism scale Personality Inventory (NPI-40; Raskin & Terry, 1988). The NPI-40 is a
(Thomaes, Stegge, Bushman, Olthof, & Denissen, 2008) used in the sub-clinical, 40-item self-report questionnaire with dichotomous,
study consisted of items measuring grandiose narcissism, thus sup- forced-choice questions. Participants are presented with two options
porting the view that overvaluation predicts grandiose narcissism spe- and must choose whether a narcissistic response (e.g. “I find it easy to
cifically. manipulate people”) or a non-narcissistic response (e.g. “I don't like it

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K.T. Nguyen and L. Shaw Personality and Individual Differences 154 (2020) 109615

when I find myself manipulating people”) best describes them. Higher Table 2
scores indicate higher grandiose narcissism. The NPI-40 has demon- Summary of multiple linear regression statistics for grandiose narcissism and
strated strong psychometric properties, with good test-retest reliability vulnerable narcissism.
(r = 81; del Rosario & White, 2005) and excellent internal consistency IV B SE β t p R2 Adj. R2
(α = 0.81 to 0.91; Brown & Tamborski, 2011; Foster, Shiverdecker, &
Turner, 2016; Otway & Vignoles, 2006). Reliability of the NPI-40 in the Hypothesis 1 - .057 .049
HSNS
current study was good (α = 0.84).
Constant 2.50 .15 16.87 <0.001
ACE .04 .01 .27 3.91 <0.001
2.2.2. Hypersensitive narcissism scale OS .07 .04 .13 1.81 .071
Vulnerable narcissism was measured using the 10-item Hypothesis 2 - .044 .037
NPI
Hypersensitive Narcissism Scale (HSNS; Hendin & Cheek, 1997). Par-
Constant 8.57 1.24 6.92 <0.001
ticipants were required to respond to items (e.g. “My feelings are easily ACE −0.07 .07 −0.07 −0.97 .331
hurt by ridicule or the slighting remarks of others”) on a scale ranging OS .77 .31 .17 2.48 .014
from 1 (very uncharacteristic or untrue, strongly disagree) to 5 (very
characteristic or true, strongly agree). Higher scores indicate higher
vulnerable narcissistic traits. Discriminant and convergent validity for the mid value. NPI-40 scores were lower, with almost 93% reporting
the HSNS has been established, showing that it is not significantly scores on the lower half of the scale range. Approximately 75% of the
correlated with grandiose narcissism, but is positively correlated with sample reported 10 or fewer ACE's. ACE and OS scores were positively
similar constructs such as neuroticism (r = 0.58; Miller et al., 2011). skewed. Logarithm and square root transformations were applied to the
The HSNS has shown acceptable reliability in previous studies (α= skewed data, however, no discernible difference in the results of ana-
0.71; Fossati et al., 2009) and α was acceptable in the present study at lyses was evident. Therefore, the untransformed data was retained.
0.77. Data were tested for the assumptions of multiple regression, with all
assumptions met. Because of the multiple relationships being tested in
2.2.3. Adverse childhood experiences questionnaire the hypotheses, a conservative alpha level of α = 0.025 was adopted for
The Adverse Childhood Experiences Questionnaire (ACE; inferential analyses.
Felitti et al., 1998) was used to measure negative developmental ex-
periences. Participants responded to the ACE by indicating whether 3.2. Predicting vulnerable narcissism
they have experienced physical, emotional, and/or sexual abuse (8
items); physical and/or emotional neglect (6 items); and/or household Regression coefficients and standard errors for all analyses are in
dysfunctions (including caregiver domestic abuse, separation/divorce, Table 2. A multiple linear regression was conducted to examine if ACE's
mental illness, substance abuse, incarceration; 9 items) before they predicted HSNS scores, after controlling for OS scores. The regression
were 18. The ACE score is calculated across these 10 categories and model was significant (R2 = 0.05; F (2,254) = 7.632, p= .001) and
scores range from 1–10, with higher scores indicating greater childhood ACE's, but not OS scores were a significant and positive, yet weak,
adversity. The ACE has shown strong internal consistency in previous predictor of HSNS scores.
studies (e.g., Murphy et al., 2014) (Cronbach's α= 0.88; 2014). α in the
current study was 0.89. 3.3. Predicting grandiose narcissism

2.2.4. Parental overvaluation A multiple linear regression was run to predict NPI-40 scores based
Parental overvaluation was measured using the Overvaluation on ACE and OS scores. The model was statistically significant (R2 =
Subscale (OS) of the Childhood Recollections Scale (Otway & 0.04; F (2,260) = 5.975, p= .003), and OS, but not ACE scores were a
Vignoles, 2006). The OS consists of 4-items (e.g. “When I was a child significant, positive, albeit weak, predictor of NPI-40 scores.
my parents praised me for virtually everything I did”) rated on a 7-point
scale (1= strongly disagree, 7= strongly agree). The OS has shown 3.4. Mental health history
good internal consistency (α= 0.74; Horton & Tritch, 2014). The in-
ternal consistency of the OS in the current study was 0.79. Depression, anxiety and personality disorders are often comorbid
with both vulnerable narcissism and ACEs (Miller et al., 2011, 2017).
3. Results Therefore, analyses were re-run to see if ACE's predicted HSNS scores
after controlling for the presence of such disorders. The regression
3.1. Descriptive statistics model significantly predicted vulnerable narcissism (R2 = 0.072; F
(2,254) = 7.632, p < .001) and ACEs still significantly predicted HSNS
Table 1 contains the descriptive statistics and Pearson's correlations scores over and above the effects of history of mental health disorders
between all measures and show that patterns were in the expected di- (see Table 3).
rections. HSNS scores were high, with over 72% of reported scores over
3.4.1. Adverse childhood experiences
Table 1 To further explore the potential different aetiological pathways to
Descriptive Statistics and Pearson's Correlation between HSNS, NPI-40, ACE the two types of narcissism, Pearson's correlations between the
and OS Scores.
Table 3
M(SD) 1 2 3 4
Summary of multiple linear regression statistics for vulnerable narcissism and
1. HSNS 2.93 (0.72) __ ACEs with mental health history as a covariate.
2. NPI-40 10.17 (6.10) −0.035 __
IV B SE β t p R2 Adj. R2
3. ACE 7.02 (5.60) .211** −0.146* __
4. OS 2.75 (1.34) .000 .201** −0.466** __ DV- HSNS .072 .065
Constant 2.66 .08 35.26 <0.001
**p = <0.001 (2-tailed), *p = < 0.025 (2-tailed); HSNS= Hypersensitive ACE .02 .01 .16 2.51 .013
Narcissism Scale; NPI= Narcissistic Personality Inventory; ACE= Adverse Mental Health History .25 .09 .17 2.75 .006
Childhood Experiences Scale, OS= Overvaluation Subscale.

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K.T. Nguyen and L. Shaw Personality and Individual Differences 154 (2020) 109615

Table 4 believe that they are entitled to special treatment due to their traumatic
Bivariate correlations between HSNS and ACE subscales, and NPI-40 and ACE past.
subscales. The findings are consistent with social learning theories suggesting
ACE Subscales HSNS p NPI-40 p that narcissism, particularly grandiose narcissism, develops due to
parents overindulging their children (Millon, 1981; Otway &
Emotional Abuse .18 .004 .04 .523 Vignoles, 2006; Twenge, 2014; Thomaes et al., 2009) and further cor-
Physical Abuse .08 .201 −0.01 .856
roborate findings indicating that parental overvaluation predicted
Sexual Abuse −0.01 .894 −0.10 .107
Emotional Neglect .29 < 0.001 −0.21 .001 grandiose narcissism (Brummelman et al., 2015) but not vulnerable
Physical Neglect .14 .028 −0.11 .072 narcissism (Otway & Vignoles, 2006). The correlation profile of the ACE
Battered Mother .10 .122 −0.02 .811 subscale items did not completely align with Miller et al. (2010).
Parental Discord .01 .883 −0.047 .450
However, these differences can be accounted for by the use of different
Mentally Ill Household Member .15 .016 −0.15 .013
Substance Abuse in Household .04 .571 −0.016 .794
measures (ACE versus Child Abuse and Trauma Scale) leading to dif-
Incarcerated Household Member .02 .740 .038 .541 ferences in operationalisation of scores.
A strength of this study is that it shed light on vulnerable narcissism,
a construct that has been historically overlooked and only gained more
subscales of the ACE and both narcissism measures were calculated interest in research in the last few decades (Ackerman et al., 2016;
(Table 4). While all correlations were weak, clear patterns of results Miller et al., 2017; Wink, 1991). This can be observed as contemporary
were evident: correlations between the ACE subscales and the NPI-40 studies still use narcissism as an umbrella construct (e.g.
were primarily negative, while correlations between the subscales and Brummelman et al., 2015) or notoriously emphasise grandiose features
HSNS scores were positive. The highest correlation was found between (Miller et al., 2017; Millon, 1981; Raskin & Terry, 1988). While the
emotional neglect and the two types of narcissism and while both predictive effects observed in the current study are weak, aside from
correlations were weak, emotional neglect was a significantly, posi- Otway and Vignoles (2006) and Horton and Tritch (2014), the present
tively associated with HSNS scores (r = 0.29 p = <0.001), but a sig- study is one of few studies to examine the importance of psychoanalytic
nificantly, negatively associated with NPI-40 scores (r = .−21 and social learning theory in the development of grandiose and vul-
p = <0.001). Similarly, the presence of a mentally ill household nerable narcissism, using analyses that adjust for the predicted effect of
member was a positive predictor of HSNS scores (r = 0.15 the other, respectively. Moreover, to the best of the authors’ knowledge,
p = <0.025), but a negative predictor of NPI-40 scores (r = .−15 this study is also the first investigation looking at the impact of child-
p = <0.025). hood neglect and household dysfunction factors in the aetiology of
narcissism in non-clinical populations.
4. Discussion The findings also gave insight into which ACEs may be particularly
implicated in the aetiology of both forms of narcissism, with emotional
The aim of the present study was to examine the relationship be- neglect and having a mentally ill household member surfacing as pos-
tween ACEs, parental overvaluation and trait narcissism, and determine sible important predictors for both narcissism types (albeit in opposite
if these relationships differ between vulnerable and grandiose narcis- directions). Future studies should investigate how these variables may
sism. Reflecting the psychoanalytic approach to the development of connect the two narcissism types and pursue greater understanding in
narcissism, we hypothesised that ACEs would predict vulnerable nar- this area.
cissism but not grandiose narcissism. Corresponding to the social A limitation of this study was that there was a large gender im-
learning theory approach, we hypothesised that parental overvaluation balance with women outnumbering men with a ratio of 9 to 1. Although
would predict grandiose narcissism but not vulnerable narcissism. Both Facebook is considered largely representative of the population
predictions were supported by the data, although effect sizes were very (Kosinski et al., 2015), in the current study, there was a strong bias
small. However, even after controlling for diagnosed mental health toward female respondents. As such, these findings may only reflect the
conditions, ACEs significantly predicted vulnerable narcissism, but not development of narcissism in females and further research is required
grandiose narcissism. Further, parental overvaluation significantly to investigate whether these findings can be generalised to males. The
predicted grandiose narcissism, but not vulnerable narcissism. conclusion that the current findings may only reflect the female ex-
Inspection of the ACE subscales showed that while only emotional perience is supported by evidence showing that grandiose narcissism is
abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect and having a mentally ill less pronounced in women than men (Grijalva et al., 2015) – this could
member in the household were associated with vulnerable narcissism, explain the lower effect sizes for grandiose versus vulnerable narcissism
and only emotional neglect and having a mentally ill member in the in the current study.
household were associated with grandiose narcissism, the correlation A further limitation of this study was that participants were asked
patterns showed that most ACE subscale variables were positively as- whether they have been diagnosed with anxiety, depression or PDs in
sociated with vulnerable narcissism, but negatively associated with the past, which was collapsed into a dichotomous variable confirming
grandiose narcissism. Taken together, the findings support arguments or refuting a history of mental health disorders. The finding that ACEs
that there may be different aetiological pathways to the development of was a predictor for vulnerable narcissism over and above the effect of
grandiose and vulnerable narcissism, and suggest that ACEs and par- mental health disorders should thus be considered in light of this. While
ental overvaluation are weakly associated with vulnerable and grand- the current study provides an initial insight, future studies should use
iose narcissism respectively. additional scales to measure concurrent symptoms of anxiety, depres-
Current findings support the idea that similarities between grand- sion and personality disorders and include these as covariates in their
iose and vulnerable narcissism are not due to a shared aetiological analyses for a clearer picture of how these conditions may be associated
pathway but are explained by different motivational factors with ACEs and vulnerable narcissism.
(Miller et al., 2010). For example, individuals high on grandiose nar- Overall, it is important to highlight that, although the hypotheses
cissism may be antagonistic as they are motivated by instrumental gains were supported, the effect sizes were very small, suggesting that other
and to achieve power, while for people higher on vulnerable narcissism, factors are implicated in the development of narcissism. However, the
disagreeableness may be due to affective dysregulation and distrust of aim of this paper was to consolidate the different theories underlying
others that result from ACEs. Similarly, individuals high on grandiose the aetiology of narcissism by proposing differential pathways. As such,
narcissism may feel more entitled due to a perception that they are the findings, while statistically weak, do provide initial evidence for the
superior to others, while individuals high on vulnerable narcissism may two-type model of narcissism by isolating their differential aetiological

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K.T. Nguyen and L. Shaw Personality and Individual Differences 154 (2020) 109615

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