Causes, Risk Factors, And Complications Of Narcissistic Personality Disorder

Certain Parenting Styles

One of the factors leading to a high risk of narcissistic personality disorder is exposure to certain parenting styles as a child. Two of these styles seem to be in opposition: over-indulgent parenting and neglectful parenting. Over-indulgent parenting involves a parent who constantly praises a child and protects them from experiencing failure. When the child does fall short, the parent blames someone or something else.

The child grows with a sense of entitlement and becomes convinced they are inherently special, feelings that can later manifest as narcissistic personality disorder. On the other hand, neglectful parenting, where the child is ignored or actively criticized, can lead to a situation where a child is constantly trying to prove the neglectful parent wrong. The child learns to cope with the parent's rejection by convincing themselves of being special and important. The constant desire to avoid being a loser can manifest as narcissistic personality disorder in later life.

Risk Of Gender

Because of the lack of self-reporting, the risk of gender in narcissistic personality disorder is not entirely clear. It does, however, seem men are more likely to develop this disorder than women. This may be, in part, due to cultural factors that encourage men to avoid strong emotion, leading them to see expressions of emotion as weak. It is also suggested this cultural training often happens around the teenage years, a time when most young individuals are prone to a natural level of narcissism. If narcissistic tendencies are encouraged rather than challenged, it may lead to narcissistic personality disorder in predisposed individuals.