Identifying Narcissistic Personality Disorders in Preadolescents

Objective: To establish whether consensus exists among 3 diagnostic systems that outline criteria for narcissistic personality disorders (NPDs) in children (Kernberg), in adolescents (Bleiberg), and in adults primarily (DSM-IV) and to identify age-related criteria for preadolescents. Method: A comparative analysis was used to determine the rate of concordance for the 9 DSM-IV criteria for NPD. Results: There is a high concordance among the 3 systems for DSM criteria, suggesting that NPD can be identified among preadolescents. Conclusion: Preliminary ways of adapting DSM-IV criteria for NPD in this age group are discussed