CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 106Personality Traits and PsychologyPersonality Disorders and PsychopathologyPsychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research

Preschool personality antecedents of narcissism in adolescence and young adulthood: A 20-year longitudinal study

Open access
Carlson, Kevin S., Gjerde, Per F.·2009·Journal of Research in Personality
DOI 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.003PMC PMC2811719
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

This prospective study examined relations between preschool personality attributes and narcissism during adolescence and emerging adulthood. We created five a priori preschool scales anticipated to foretell future narcissism. Independent assessors evaluated the participants' personality at ages 14, 18, and 23. Based upon these evaluations, we generated observer-based narcissism scales for each of these three ages. All preschool scales predicted subsequent narcissism, except Interpersonal Antagonism at age 23. According to mean scale and item scores analyses, narcissism increased significantly from age 14 to 18, followed by a slight but non-significant decline from age 18 to 23. The discussion focused on a developmental view of narcissism, the need for research on automatic processing and psychological defenses, and links between narcissism and attachment.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.003

Cites

102 of 102 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • At preschool age, attention seeking and interpersonal antagonism are precursors of later narcissism.

    “At this age, attention seeking and interpersonal antagonism have been found to be precursors of later narcissism (Carlson & Gjerde, 2009).”

    From The "Why" and "How" of Narcissism: A Process Model of Narcissistic Status Pursuit (2020) · cites this paper as Carlson & Gjerde, 2009

    The Results (§3.4; page unavailable) link preschool attention seeking to narcissism at age 23 and describe broadly similar findings at ages 14 and 18. Preschool interpersonal antagonism, however, was not significantly related to narcissism at age 23, so the unqualified claim overstates that part of the findings. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Prospective studies have identified temperamental characteristics, such as interpersonal antagonism, impulsivity, attention seeking, high activity level, histrionic tendencies, and low playfulness, as childhood antecedents of grandiose narcissism.

    “Prospective studies (71, 72) have identified temperamental characteristics, such as interpersonal antagonism, impulsivity, attention seeking, high activity level, histrionic tendencies, and low playfulness as childhood antecedents of grandiose narcissism.”

    From Narcissistic Personality Disorder: Progress in Understanding and Treatment (2022) · cites this paper as [71]

    The Results (§3.4; page unavailable) link preschool impulse-control difficulties, attention seeking, activity level, and histrionic tendencies with later narcissism. They also report that interpersonal antagonism was not significantly related to narcissism at age 23. The paper does not identify low playfulness as a precursor or establish that the outcome was specifically grandiose narcissism. (LLM, conf=0.88)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured

  • Preschoolers rated as interpersonally antagonistic, impulsive, histrionic, high in activity, and attention seeking were generally rated as more narcissistic in adolescence and early adulthood.

    “For instance, Carlson & Gjerde (2009) found that preschoolers who were rated as being interpersonally antagonistic, impulsive, histrionic, high in activity, and attention seeking were generally rated as more narcissistic in adolescence and early adulthood, which may suggest that these traits arise quite early in life.”

    From Controversies in Narcissism (2017) · cites this paper as Carlson & Gjerde (2009)

  • Traits associated with adult narcissism emerge quite early and are relatively stable over time.

    “There are also prospective data to suggest that traits associated with adult narcissism emerge quite early and are relatively stable over time.”

    From Controversies in Narcissism (2017) · cites this paper as Carlson & Gjerde (2009)

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Research works printed but not linked: 2

  1. Kohut H Analysis of the self 1971 New York International Universities Press
  2. Morrison AP Essential papers on narcissism 1986 Ed. New York New York University Press

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

Authors
Carlson, K. S., & Gjerde, P. F.
Affiliations
  • Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HK)
  • University of California, Santa Cruz (US)
Corresponding author
Gjerde, Per F.
Venue
Journal of Research in Personality
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2009-08
Volume
43
Issue
4
Pages
570-578
ISSN
0092-6566 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.jrp.2009.03.003
PMC
PMC2811719
OpenAlex
W2046988008
Cited by
106
References
95
Citations by year
2026: 5 · 2025: 5 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 9 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 5 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 8 · 2015: 7 · 2014: 3 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 3
FWCI
5.30
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/ (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Research in Personality (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
National Institute of Mental Health (R01MH016080)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Traits and Psychology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Personality Disorders and Psychopathology
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
Keywords
narcissism, personality development, adolescence, emerging adulthood, developmental trajectories, attachment, automatic processing, defense mechanisms, longitudinal prediction

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review