Narcissism, Bullying, and Social Dominance in Youth: A Longitudinal Analysis
Open accessAbstract
A few previous studies have shown that narcissistic traits in youth are positively associated with bullying. However, research examining the developmental relationship between narcissism and bullying is lacking. Moreover, it is unclear whether narcissists constitute a homogeneous group and whether the bullying of narcissistic youth results in establishing social dominance over peers. The present work addresses these gaps. Children (N = 393; M age = 10.3; 51% girls) were followed during the last 3 years of primary school. Person-centered analyses were used to examine whether groups with distinct developmental trajectories for narcissism and two bullying forms (direct and indirect) can be identified, and how these trajectories are related. Multiple groups emerged for all constructs examined. For girls, higher narcissism was neither related to more intense bullying, nor to higher social dominance. In contrast, highly narcissistic boys were more likely than their peers to show elevated direct bullying, and in particular elevated indirect bullying. Hence, high narcissism is a risk factor for bullying in boys, but not in girls. However, narcissism is not always accompanied by high bullying, given that many boys on the high bullying trajectories were not high in narcissism. Results show that among narcissistic youth only those who engage in high levels of bullying are high in social dominance.
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Narcissists are often combative toward others and perceived as confrontational, insulting, belittling, and intimidating.
“At the same time, narcissists are often combative toward others. In such instances, they are often perceived as confrontational, insulting, belittling, and intimidating (Holtzman, Vazire, & Mehl, 2010; Morf & Rhodewalt, 1993; Reijntjes et al., 2016).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Reijntjes et al., 2016
The introductory passage under “Electronic supplementary material” (page unavailable) says youth with narcissistic traits often show aggression and other aversive interpersonal behavior, supporting the general description of combative behavior. The paper does not establish that narcissists are perceived specifically as confrontational, insulting, belittling, and intimidating; its study concerns bullying among youth, with findings that differ by gender (Discussion, page unavailable). (LLM, conf=0.85)
Experimental — accuracy not yet measuredNarcissists may lie, insult, bully, and retaliate with physical aggression toward those who obstructed their status pursuit.
“Not only might they sometimes lie (Lee & Ashton, 2005), insult (Holtzman et al., 2010), and bully (Reijntjes et al., 2016), but they can also retaliate with physical aggression toward those that obstructed their status pursuit (for a review, see Denissen, Thomaes, & Bushman, 2018).”
From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Reijntjes et al., 2016
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Cites
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The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit
Grapsas, S., Brummelman, E., Back, M. D., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2020) · Perspectives on Psychological Science · doi:10.1177/1745691619873350 · Cited by 312 · see citing works
“, 2010), and bully (Reijntjes et al., 2016), but they can also retaliate with physical aggression toward those that obstructed their status pursuit (for a review, see Denissen, Thomaes, & Bushman, 2018).”
BackgroundGrandiose narcissism and performance in organizations: mediating role of subjective wellbeing
Sakkar Sudha, K., & Shahnawaz, M. G. (2020) · Leadership, Education, Personality: An Interdisciplinary Journal · doi:10.1365/s42681-020-00015-0 · Cited by 7 · see citing works
- Authors
- Reijntjes, A., Vermande, M., Thomaes, S., Goossens, F., Olthof, T., Aleva, L., & Van der Meulen, M.
- Affiliations
- Utrecht University (NL)
- University of Southampton (GB)
- Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (NL)
- Corresponding author
- Reijntjes, Albert
- Venue
- Journal of Abnormal Child Psychology
- Published
- 2015-02-03
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 63-74
- ISSN
- 0091-0627 (ISSN-L)
- 1573-2835
- PMC
- PMC4715128
- OpenAlex
- W1994289974
- Cited by
- 113
- References
- 5
- Citations by year
- 2026: 7 · 2025: 7 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 15 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 20 · 2018: 7 · 2017: 7 · 2016: 4 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 11.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Locations
- Research on Child and Adolescent Psychopathology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- VU Research Portal (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- Utrecht University Repository (Utrecht University) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Social Psychology › Bullying, Victimization, and Aggression
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Child and Adolescent Psychosocial and Emotional Development
- Keywords
- narcissism, bullying, social dominance, youth, developmental trajectories, direct bullying, indirect bullying, gender differences, peer relationships, elementary school students, person-centered analysis
- MeSH terms
- Child, Child Behavior, Dominance-Subordination, Female, Humans, Interpersonal Relations, Longitudinal Studies, Male, Narcissism, Peer Group, Sex Factors, Social Dominance, Time Factors, Bullying
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