Narcissism and Parenting Styles
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Abstract
Baumrind's authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian parenting styles were analyzed within the context of Kohut's psychology of the self. College student perceptions of their parents were correlated with measures of self-functioning in order to test the hypotheses that perceived parental authoritativeness would be associated with less narcissistic maladjustment, that permissiveness would be associated with immature grandiosity, and that authoritarianism would correlate with inadequate idealization. All three suggestions received empirical support. In addition, authoritarianism seemed to be associated with less immature grandi-osity, and parenting characteristics of the mother were more strongly correlated with self-development than were those of ihe father. That the family crucially affects the self is a commonplace social scientific assumption not limited to psychoanalysis. Baumrind's (e.g., 1966, 1975, 1983) research into authoritative, permissive, and authoritarian parenting styles il-lustrates how developmental psychologists have sought to clarify the tie be-tween parenting and the traits of children. Most simplistically, authoritativeness combines control and limit setting with warmth and nurtur-ance and generally fosters children who are "mature . . . socially responsible and assertive" (Baumnnd, 1973, p. 8). Overemphasis on nurturance at the expense of appropriate control defines a permissiveness that is associated with "immature" children more likely to have problems with self-control and self-reliance. Authoritarian parents are opposite to the permissive pattern in exert-ing strong control with little warmth. Their "disaffiliated" youth (1973, p. 8) appear to be unhappy, socially withdrawn, and lacking in trust (1983, p. 121).