SELF-REPORTED NARCISSISM AND PERCEIVED PARENTAL PERMISSIVENESS AND AUTHORITARIANISM

The hypothesis that inadequate parenting promotes the development of p athological narcissism was tested in a sample of 370 undergraduate stu dents. They responded to the O'Brien (1987) Multiphasic Narcissism Inv entory (OMNI) and to measures of parental permissiveness, authoritaria nism, and authoritativeness. Perceived parental permissiveness and aut horitarianism served as independent predictors of greater narcissistic tendencies. The students who scored high on the OMNI were also less l ikely to evaluate both of their parents as having been especially stro ng in their use of the adjustment-promoting authoritative style. Theor etical efforts to link narcissism with inadequate parenting therefore may have merit and may deserve additional research attention.