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Associations between Parental Styles of Emotion Socialization and Narcissistic Traits

Styles of parental emotion socialization include magnifying, neglecting, punishing, rewarding, and overriding. Punishment, neglect, and magnification of anger are reported more in youth with problems, while reward of fear, anger, and sadness are reported more in youth without problems. Past research has focused on associations between socialization styles and children’s internalizing/externalizing behaviors. However, no study has assessed emotion socialization as it relates to narcissistic traits, which have been linked to aggression, conduct problems, and delinquency. Thus, we sought to examine associations between parental socialization styles and adaptive/maladaptive narcissistic traits. Based on existing research, we hypothesized that negative socialization of emotions would be associated with maladaptive narcissistic traits and that positive socialization practices would be associated with adaptive narcissistic traits. Zero-order correlations indicated that neglect of emotions was positively associated with maladaptive narcissistic traits (r =.17, p<.05). However, when entered into a linear regression with punish and magnify, this association was no longer significant, suggesting that neglect has little association with narcissism once other socialization styles are factored in. When magnify and punish were simultaneously entered as predictors of maladaptive narcissism, both emerged as significant predictors. Specifically, magnification was associated with lower levels of maladaptive narcissism (β =-.31, p<.01) and punishment was associated with higher levels (β =.32, p<.01). These results indicate that magnification and punishment of emotions are stronger as predictors when considered together. These findings have important methodological considerations (namely, the inclusion of multiple socialization styles) for future research on narcissistic traits and emotion socialization.