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The role of gender in the relationship between narcissism, self-esteem, and externalizing problems in children

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Self-esteem and narcissism in childhood have attracted great research interest because of their concurrent and predictive associations with healthy and dysfunctional outcomes. However, the interaction between self-esteem and narcissism in predicting externalizing problems is complex and may vary by gender. The study addressed this issue by exploring through self- and parent-reported measures the associations between narcissism, self-esteem, and externalizing problems as a function of gender among a community sample of 579 school-age children (51.60% boys; mean age = 10.00 years, SD = 1.03 years). Results showed that narcissism was positively, while self-esteem was negatively associated with externalizing problems. A significant three-way interaction emerged. Among boys, narcissism was positively associated with externalizing problems only among those with high self-esteem. Conversely, among girls, narcissism was positively associated with externalizing problems only among those with low self-esteem. In conclusion, understanding the nuanced interplay between narcissism, self-esteem, and gender can also provide valuable insights for developing targeted interventions to mitigate externalizing problems in children.

Source: European Journal of Developmental Psychology

DOI: 10.1080/17405629.2025.2585983

Authors: Pietro Muratori, Iacopo Bertacchi, Carlo Buonanno, Valentina Levantini, Laura Pannunzi, Gabrielle Coppola