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• Posted July 11, 2024

Know a Narcissist? They May Become Less So as They Age

Your schoolmate who acted like he was better than everyone else has probably shed some of that narcissistic behavior an adult.

New research shows people tend to be less narcissistic as they age. Still, those who were more narcissistic as kids tended to be narcissists as adults.

"One theory suggests that the social roles we take on in adulthood, for example as a partner, a parent, an employee and so on, lead to the development of more mature personality characteristics, including lower levels of narcissism," said researcher Ulrich Orth of the University of Bern in Switzerland.

Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance, according to the Mayo Clinic. They crave attention, admiration and seem to be extremely confident. Behind the mask, however, they're unsure of their own worth and rattled by even the slightest criticism.

To learn more about narcissism, Orth's team analyzed data from 51 studies from the United States, Canada, Western Europe, China and New Zealand that examined how levels of narcissism changed over time. 

In all, the studies included more than 37,200 people from 8 to 77 years of age. Some were followed for decades. 

Researchers looked at three types of narcissism. 

Agentic narcissists have a sense of superiority and strong need for admiration. Antagonistic narcissists are arrogant, callous, entitled and have little empathy. Neurotic narcissists are hypersensitive and have trouble controlling their emotions.

While all three types declined as people aged, people who were more narcissistic than average as kids remained that way in adulthood.

"This was true even across very long periods of time, which suggests that narcissism is a stable personality trait," Orth said in an American Psychological Association news release. 

The findings were published July 11 in the journal Psychological Bulletin.

Noting that most of the data came from the United States and Western Europe, he said future research should look at a a broader swath of countries and cultures. It should also examine why narcissism declines with age, he added.

"These findings have important implications, given that high levels of narcissism influence people's lives in many ways -- both the lives of the narcissistic individuals themselves, and, maybe even more, the lives of their families and friends," Orth said in a journal news release.

More information

The Mayo Clinic has more about narcissistic personality disorder. 

SOURCE: American Psychological Association, news release, July 11, 2024