Predicting Narcissism: The mediating effect of self-esteem on the relationship of parenting styles and Narcissistic tendency

There is a growing interest with regards to the origins of narcissism. Past studies have associated narcissism with psychological constructs and have associated the role of the parents in the development of narcissism. This led to the present study that aims to investigate on the mediating role of self-esteem on the relationship of parenting styles (permissive, authoritarian) and narcissism, specifically which of the styles is predict narcissistic tendencies of an individual. There were two questions asked in relation to these variables. First, does self-esteem mediate the relationship between parenting styles and narcissistic tendency? Second, which among the parenting styles is mediated by self-esteem with narcissistic tendency? The study tested self-esteem as mediator for the relationship of each parenting style with narcissism. Mediator analysis was used in analyzing data coming from 202 participants. Results indicated that self-esteem only had a mediating role between permissive parenting style and narcissistic tendency